The Ukrainian government has partially withdrawn troops from Donetsk airport after months of bitter fighting with independence-seeking insurgents, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.

"Yesterday, 20 troops of the Ukrainian armed forces left the terminals of the airport because their position were destroyed and exposed to direct fire," the press service of the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, six government soldiers were killed and 16 others wounded in defending the key facility over the past 24 hours, and as of Thursday morning a part of the airport was still under control of the government forces.

"Fierce fighting around the airport in Donetsk continues," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the volunteer Azov battalion, which fights against rebels along with Ukrainian army, said that the insurgents have taken full control over the airport.

"The airport is lost. The enemy's offensive is now underway on the northern and southern directions," Azov commander Andriy Biletsky was quoted by the battalion's press service as saying.

Ukrainian military spokesman Leonid Matukhin gave no information on whether the airport was abandoned by the government forces.

"I can not officially confirm or deny the information about the pullout of our troops from the airport," Matukhin told local media.

Initially, the rebels have claimed to have captured the airport on Jan. 16, but the Ukrainian authorities denied the reports of the airport takeover.

The insurgents seized the international airport in Donetsk in mid-May, but Ukrainian forces recaptured a part of the airport few days later and fully controlled the airport in July after heavy battles, in which dozens of combatants have been killed.

Since then, the facility has been a flashpoint in the conflict that began in mid-April in 2014 and has claimed more than 4,800 lives so far. Endi

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