Ukraine says battles in northeast ‘difficult’, Russia says forces advancing forward

Ukraine’s military faced intense fighting on the on the northeastern front line in the Kupiansk direction, a spokesman said on Thursday. Meanwhile, Russia claimed to have improved their forward edge positions in the area.

“The enemy is trying to seize the initiative, is trying to break through our defenses… The situation is difficult, but under control,” said Serhiy Choreatic, spokesperson for Ukraine's East military command.

He added that Russian troops are suffering heavy losses. This day alone, he said, Russians lost three tanks, two howitzers D-20 and “MstaB”, two mortars, UAV “Orlan 10”, 7 trucks with weapons, 3 field warehouses with ammunition and 3 enemy dugouts.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Russian assault teams improved their forward edge positions in the Kupiansk area and repelled seven Ukrainian counter-attacks over the past day.

“In the Kupiansk direction, assault teams of the western battlegroup improved their forward edge position during offensive operations. Over the past 24 hours, they successfully repelled seven counter-attacks by units of the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 44th mechanized brigades in areas near the settlements of Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Sinkovka and the Mankovka natural area in the Kharkov Region,” said Igor Konashenkov.

He claimed that the Ukrainian military lost over 55 troops, two armored combat vehicles, three motor vehicles, a US-made M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery gun and a US-manufactured M777 artillery system in that direction in the past 24 hours.

Al Arabiya English could not independently verify battlefield reports.

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