NSDC: Ukrainian army holds positions near Bakhmutka highway in Luhansk rgn

Tensions remain near the village of Smile in the Slovyanoserbsky district and the town of Hirske in the Popasniansky district of the Luhansk region, but the Ukrainian military hold on to their positions, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said.

"As to the village of Smile and the Bakhmutka [a stretch of the Luhansk-Artemivsk highway near the town of Hirske], tensions have not been reduced but the servicemen are neither retreating nor abandoning their positions," NSDC Information Analysis Center speaker Andriy Lysenko said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

According to Lysenko, the Ukrainian servicemen were reinforcing their positions. "The Ukrainian army is holding its positions… Reinforcements are arriving… The situation remains under control for now," the NSDC representative said.

The Ukrainian army is opposed by the Cossacks "who are not mounted on horseback or armed with sabers but possess armored vehicles and artillery. However, almost nothing is left there after yesterday's events," Lysenko said.

As reported, the Ukrainian army defended a roadblock near Smile on Wednesday against the militia's artillery and Grad rocket launchers.

Luhansk Region Governor Hennadiy Moskal said the militia had besieged two roadblocks on the Bakhmutka highway and some of the 112 military servicemen were taken prisoner. The army operation press center argued that the situation was complicated but controllable at the roadblocks.

The Luhansk region state administration issued a travel alert for the Bakhmutka highway stretch between the town of Hirske in the Popasniansky district and Luhansk on Thursday. "The road was blocked because of the hostilities and armed provocations. It is dangerous to go there," the press service quoted Moskal as saying.