Every attack of militants successfully repelled by Ukraine forces – Defense Ministry

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it was in control of the Debaltseve situation and army units had been regrouping for further hostilities.

"The Ukrainian army has unblocked the road between Debaltseve and Artemivsk. Reserves and hardware are being moved towards the war zone. Every attack of the militants has been successfully repelled by ATO forces," says a report posted on the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's website.

The situation "is complicated but controllable," it said. "Ukrainian servicemen have inflicted substantial damage on the terrorists. The militants have lost manpower and hardware."

The press service of Luhansk region state administration head Hennadiy Moskal said on Tuesday that two populated areas on the Kyiv-controlled territory of the Luhansk region – Chornukhyne and Troitske in the Popasna region, which could have earlier been reached only via Debaltseve in the Donetsk region – have been fully isolated.

Ukrainian General Staff officers held negotiations with the militants last week with the purpose of opening a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of Chornukhyne, Moskal said. They agreed to open the corridor on Tuesday, February 10.

"We departed from Severodonetsk for Chornukhyne at 7 a.m. but managed to travel only as far as Myronivsky in the Donetsk region, 15 kilometers from Debaltseve. This is the location of the last Ukrainian roadblock manned by servicemen of the Interior Ministry's department in the Donetsk region. No one is permitted to travel beyond that roadblock, because the village of Lohvynove has been blocked by hostiles and their weaponry," the head of the Luhansk region state administration said.

The road constantly comes under Grad and artillery fire, he added.

"Chornukhyne and Troitske, which have happened to be part of the Debaltseve theater of operations, are fully blocked. It is possible to evacuate people from there only to the so-called LPR," Moskal said.