You can now follow the latest news for free through our Instagram account
Click here to subscribe
Moscow: The Russian army announced on Monday that it had repelled Ukrainian “attempts to attack” in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions in southern Ukraine, stressing that it had inflicted “significant losses” on the Kyiv forces.
“During the day, on the direct order of (Ukrainian President) Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian forces launched an attack attempt in three directions in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“This new attempt of offensive operations by the enemy has been thwarted,” she added.
“Units of the Ukrainian army suffered heavy losses in view of the strong defense of the Russian forces,” the ministry said.
The Russian army said in its statement that it had destroyed 26 tanks, 32 armored vehicles and two Su-25 fighters of the Ukrainian army, noting that “the enemy lost more than 560 soldiers.”
AFP was unable to confirm this information with an independent source.
Earlier Monday, local Ukrainian authorities confirmed that Kyiv’s forces launched a counterattack in the south with the aim of driving Russian forces to the other side of the Dnieper River and retaking Kherson.