UKRAINIAN “saboteurs” were foiled in an attempt to penetrate the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) today, it said, as a mass evacuation of citizens from the Donbass region began.

Similar operations  were also uncovered in Lugansk, separatist officials said, reporting lethal outbreaks of fighting on the line of control.

Units of Ukrainian soldiers were confronted by separatist militia in Donetsk, according to deputy military commander Eduard Basarin.