MOSCOW. Feb 19 (Interfax) - Russian forces took better positions in the Avdeyevka sector and improved their position in the Donetsk sector in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
"In the Avdeyevka sector, units of the central group of troops took better positions and fully liberated the Avdeyevka Coke-Chemical Plant," the statement said.
In the Donetsk sector, units of the southern group of forces improved their position on the frontline, defeating units of the 22nd, 42nd, and 93rd Mechanized Brigades, 79th and 80th Air Assault Brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Novomikhailovka, Grigorovka, Kurdyumovka and Kleshcheyevka, the ministry said.
In the Avdeyevka sector, strikes hit concentrations of personnel and hardware of the 71st Jaeger Brigade, 23rd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and 116th Territorial Defense Brigade near Solovyovo and Tonenkoye (DPR), the statement said. Nine attacks by assault groups of the 53rd and 59th Mechanized Brigades and 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Lastochkino and Pervomaiskoye (DPR) were rebuffed in the past 24 hours. The enemy lost up to 565 Ukrainian troops killed and wounded, two armored fighting vehicles, 23 road vehicles, two U.S.-made M777 artillery systems and a D-30 howitzer.
In the Donetsk sector, four attacks by assault groups of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were rebuffed near Leninskoye (DPR). Ukrainian forces lost more than 275 troops, two infantry fighting vehicles, two road vehicles, and a D-30 howitzer, the statement said.
In the Kupyansk sector, units of the western group of troops, with support from aviation and artillery fire, rebuffed six attacks by assault groups of the 30th, 32nd, and 60th Mechanized Brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Sinkovka, Kharkov region, and Terny (DPR The enemy lost up to 30 troops, a Leopard tank, two armored personnel carriers and four road vehicles. A Krab self-propelled artillery installation, an Akatsiya self-propelled artillery installation, a D-20 howitzer, and a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery installation were hit during counterbattery combat, the statement said.
In the southern Donetsk sector, units of the eastern group of forces defeated units of the 102nd and 128th Territorial Defense Brigades near Staromayorskoye (DPR) and Chervonoye, Zaporozhye region. An attack by an assault group of the 58th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was rebuffed near Shevchenko, Zaporozhye region.
The enemy lost up to 150 troops, three road vehicles, an Akatsiya self-propelled artillery installation, a D-20 howitzer, and two Bukovel-AD electronic warfare stations, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
In the Kherson sector, Ukrainian forces lost up to 45 troops, four pickup trucks and a D-20 howitzer as a result of operations of units of the Dnepr group of forces and comprehensive fire damage on the enemy, the ministry said.