(Reuters) -Ukrainian forces on Wednesday repelled an attempt by Russian troops to pierce defences near the northeastern city of Kupiansk, Ukraine’s General Staff said.
Kupiansk was seized by Russian troops in the early days of their February 2022 invasion and recaptured by Ukrainian troops in a lightning counter-offensive months later. In recent months, the area has seen an upsurge of activity by Russian forces.
The General Staff report, posted on Facebook, said Russian forces attacked in four waves and deployed about 15 pieces of equipment, including tanks, armoured vehicles and a mine-clearing system.
“With skilful and decisive actions, our defenders stopped the enemy, destroyed all of its armoured vehicles and eliminated a significant portion of its personnel,” the report said.
Some of the Russian forces, it said, had, donned uniforms resembling those of the Ukrainian military, a practice it characterised as amounting to a war crime.
DeepState, a popular Ukrainian military blog, said two columns of Russian men and equipment had entered Kupiansk after dark. Russian servicemen scattered through the town, but Ukrainian forces struck armoured vehicles in the town and in surrounding forests and destroyed part of the group.
A separate General Staff report reported heavy military activity further south in Pokrovsk, a major target of Russian advances, with Ukrainian forces repelling all but one of 36 attacks.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said reports presented by top military commander Oleksandr Syrsyi focused on Donetsk region, the main theatre of Russia’s westward advance, along with Russian movements near Kupiansk.
In Donetsk region, prosecutors said a Russian attack killed two residents in the village of Shevchenko, west of the region’s Russian-occupied main city, Donetsk.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Ron Popeski and David Gregorio)
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