Law enforcement officers are holding investigative procedures at the base of the disbanded Tornado special patrol company in Luhansk region, the situation is under control the press secretary of the Interior Ministry Artem Shevchenko has said.

"An Interior Ministry investigative team together with prosecutors have started investigative procedures (a search) at the base of the dissolved Tornado special task force at a school in the town of Pryvalne in Luhansk region. Access has been provided. The situation is under full control. There is no threat of escalation," Shevchenko said on Facebook on Saturday.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov had said earlier that eight people, including seven members of the Tornado task force, had been detained in Luhansk region, and courts sanctioned their arrest.

"The Interior Ministry's internal security department together with prosecutors arrested eight people in Luhansk region yesterday, including seven members of the Tornado special patrol company, who have been detained and charged, among other things, with illegal deprivation of liberty and abduction of local civilians, torture, murder, and some other grave crimes […] along with the company commander, Ruslan Onischenko," Avakov said.

Courts ruled to arrest all of these people without bail, he said.

Avakov had said on June 18 that he had signed a decree on dissolving the task force.

Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General and Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoly Matios said the chief military prosecutor's office had investigated serious crimes supposedly committed by Tornado members in the military operation area since March, and some of the suspects had numerous previous convictions.

Tornado members obstructed investigative procedures on June 18, and police tried to settle the conflict. The Interior Ministry said police would not storm the Tornado base. Matios said on June 19 that the base in the Luhansk region, where Tornado members barricaded themselves, had been mined. An Interior Ministry commission that arrived in Severodonetsk, the Luhansk region, assured the members of the dissolved company that those of them who did not commit crimes would have the opportunity to serve with other units if they wished so.