Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has confirmed the withdrawal of part of Russian troops from the militant-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, but notes that they are replaced with new forces coming from Russia.

"The enemy is rotating manpower. In particular, on the one hand, we recorded a partial withdrawal of Russian troops, but at the same time, according to the latest data, five columns of about 80 vehicles were seen in the last 24 hours moving through the Izvaryne checkpoint in the direction of Luhansk. The lion's share of these vehicles is cars and buses with personnel and ammunition," NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

He noted that this could be interpreted as a full-scale rotation.

"The fact that somebody leaves [Donbas] does not mean that they leave Ukraine and that nobody replaces them, because there is information that new forces are coming," he said.

Earlier, the press center for the anti-terrorist operation reported that over 1,000 servicemen of the Russian army stationed in militant-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine had recently returned to Russia. According to the report, instead of regular units of Russian troops the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk "People's Republics" are trying to create their own law enforcement structures.