A total of 177 servicemen of the Ukrainian National Guard have been killed in eastern Ukraine since the beginning of the hostilities, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

"The National Guard was founded in March 2014. It was the first to stop the enemy and enable us to hold mobilization and restore combat capacities of the army... Yet we paid a high price: 177 National Guard servicemen were killed and 737 suffered injuries," he said after having presented the colors to the Ukrainian National Guard's rapid response brigade in the village of Starychi in Kyiv region on Thursday.

Ukrainian National Guard servicemen are 'holding the line' not only in eastern Ukraine, on the front, but also in the rear, Turchynov said.

"Such a thing happened in August of last year, near the Verkhovna Rada's building, where the National Guard protected democracy and parliamentarianism in our country with its blood and life," the NSDC secretary said.