The Ukrainian army has repelled nine attacks by the Russian army in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukraine’s military spokesman said on Thursday (April 21).
A military spokesman for General Staff of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Shtupun, said, one tank, ten armoured units and two vehicles, one artillery system, two special engineering units, an anti-aircraft missile system and an enemy ammunition depot have been destroyed in the past 24 hours.
Also read | Amid Russia’s Donbas offensive, US sends warplanes to Ukraine
In the east, Ukraine said on Wednesday (April 20), it had held off an assault by Russian forces attempting to advance in what Kyiv calls the Battle of the Donbas, a new campaign to seize two eastern provinces Moscow claims on behalf of separatists.
Watch | Gravitas Global Headlines: Ukraine refugee crisis | Mariupol could fall within hours
Russia’s forces had carried out strikes on dozens of military facilities in the east and had shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter near the village of Koroviy Yar, its defence ministry said.
Also read | Russia seeks India drug imports as pharmacies run short of medicines amid Ukraine war, sanctions
Russia calls its incursion a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for a war of choice.
The West has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia and given Ukraine extensive support, including arms.