Russian armed forces repelled five attacks by Ukraine in the Donetsk direction over the past 24 hours, inflicting heavy casualties on the Ukrainian army, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
"In the Donetsk direction, Southern group units repelled five enemy attacks near the villages of Kurdyumovka and Klishcheevka in the Donetsk People's Republic with aviation and artillery assistance. The Ukrainian armed forces lost up to 250 military personnel killed and wounded, three armored combat vehicles and three pickup trucks," the ministry said.
Ukrainian losses also included a Polish-made Krab self-propelled tracked gun-howitzer, a US-made M119 howitzer, three D-30 guns and one D-20 howitzer.
In addition, in the Kupyansk direction, Russian troops used aviation and artillery strikes to repel two attacks by Ukrainian assault groups of the 54th mechanized brigade near the village of Zagoruykovka in Kharkov region, leaving 40 Ukrainian troops dead or wounded.
Russian troops also repelled two attacks by Ukraine in the Liman direction, leaving up to 210 Ukrainian troops killed or wounded.
A further attack was repelled near the village of Nikolskoe in the southern Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian ministry said.
Ukrainian troops were struck by artillery fire near the village of Novomikhailovka and the town of Vugledar.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the special military operation in Ukraine launched last year, is aimed to "protect people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years."