Panic is escalating in the ranks of militants operating in eastern Ukraine, and there are reports that most of them will leave Donetsk region by August 18, National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) information and analytical center spokesman Andriy Lysenko has said.

"Panic won't already be soothed, because an active offensive of Ukrainian troops has completely demoralized militants. There is operational information that about 300 fighters who remained in Luhansk are already removing the flags of the so-called LPR from administrative buildings of the city. Chechen mercenaries are leaving Yenakiyeve and Horlivka. Nearly a hundred local criminals, who remain in these cities, indiscriminately fire at residential areas and civilians," he said at a briefing on Saturday.

Lysenko said that representatives of the Donetsk People's Republic terrorist organization used blank passports of Ukrainian citizens to produce false documents in order to freely leave the area of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) under the guise of refugees.

"According to the latest information, most militants are planning to leave Donetsk region by August 18," he added.

He also said that gunmen dressed as civilians, taking only passports and trying to cross the roadblocks of Ukrainian security forces on passenger transport under the guise of civilians.

"Only in the last three days, at a checkpoint near Debaltseve in Donetsk region, Ukrainian National Guard servicemen detained 13 men aged from 20 to 45, who are suspected of terrorist activities. Those detained included the field commander of a Luhansk-based terrorist group," Lysenko said.