MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - Russian forces have repelled 11 Ukrainian attacks in the Avdeyevka sector and improved their front lines through intensive operations in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
"In the Avdeyevka sector, units from the central group of forces improved their front lines through active operations, struck hostile detachments, and repelled 11 counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 25th Airborne Brigade, 68th Infantry Brigade, and 24th and 47th Mechanized Brigades near Novgorodskoye, Tonenkoye, Pervomaiskoye, Leninskoye and Berdychi in the Donetsk People's Republic [DPR]," the ministry said.
There, the enemy lost more than 300 troops, one tank, two armored combat vehicles, four trucks, two 122mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems, and a 122mm D-30 howitzer, it said.
In the Kupyansk sector, units from the western group of forces repelled two attacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian 95th Air Assault Brigade near Terny in the DPR. The Ukrainian army lost up to 20 troops, three trucks, a 155mm M777 howitzer, a 152mm D-20 howitzer, a 122mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, an Anklav-N ECM station, and a field ammo depot, the ministry said.
In the Donetsk sector, units from the southern group of forces took better positions and struck troops and hardware of the Ukrainian 28th Mechanized Brigade, 79th Air Assault Brigade, 5th and 92nd Assault Brigades, and 46th and 81st Airmobile Brigades near Belogorovka in the Lugansk People's Republic and Andreyevka, Antonovka, Krasnogorovka and Chasov Yar in the DPR, the ministry said. Two counterattacks by detachments of the Ukrainian 31st and 67th Mechanized Brigades were repelled near Novomikhailovka and Bogdanovka in the DPR. The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 250 troops, two tanks, three armored combat vehicles and 16 trucks, the ministry said.
Counterbattery measures in the Donetsk sector hit a 155mm M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery system, a 152mm Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, three 152mm D-20 howitzers, a 122mm D-30 howitzer, two 105mm M119 and L118 systems, and a Nota ECM station, it said.
"In the southern Donetsk sector, units from the eastern group of forces improved their tactical positions and hit troops and hardware of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 58th Motorized Infantry Brigade and the 1st Tank Brigade near Urozhainoye and Makarovka in the DPR. They also repelled a counterattack by an assault group of the [Ukrainian] 128th Territorial Defense Brigade near Nikolskoye in the DPR. The enemy lost over 140 troops, two tanks and four trucks. Counterbattery measures hit a U.S.-made 155mm M777 howitzer, a Polish-made 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery system, and a 152mm D-20 howitzer," the ministry said.
In the Kherson sector, units from the Dnepr group of forces struck detachments of the Ukrainian 141st Infantry Brigade and 118th Mechanized Brigade near Novoandreyevka and Rabotino in the Zaporozhye region. The Ukrainian army lost up to 40 troops, two pickup trucks, and a 152mm Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, the ministry said.