On 23 May 2014 a battle took place near Karlovka between the pro-Ukrainian patriotic volunteer Defense force “Donbas” and the terrorist battalion “Vostok”. The Donbas battalion has given its account on the course of events on their facebook page.
Early in the morning a platoon of 25 persons of the civilian volunteer Defense Force “Donbas”, of whom 80% are residents of the Donetsk Oblast, moving by several cars and minibuses, ran into an ambush of terrorists from the so-called “battalion “Vostok [‘East’ in Russian]”, numbering 100 persons. The Donbas battalion was armed with small arms, hand grenades, 1 sniper rifle, while the Vostok battalion was armed with sufficiently heavier weaponry: small arms, heavy weapons (large-caliber machine guns and grenade launchers), three APCs, and had a group of several snipers. As per the Donbas battalion, 80% of the terrorists from “battalion Vostok” do not live in the region, being Chechen terrorists, fighters of the former Crimean “Alpha” [special unit of Security Service], fighters of the former Crimean “Berkut” [a special police force known for its violent actions against Euromaidan protesters], while 20% are civilian fighters from the self-proclaimed terrorist republic “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DPR).