The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front in the South Donetsk direction on the morning of June 4.

According to the department, the enemy brought into battle the 23rd and 31st mechanized brigades from the strategic reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the support of other military units and subunits.

According to reports, the Armed Forces of Ukraine involved six mechanized and two tank battalions. The Ministry of Defense noted that the enemy's goal was to break through the defenses of Russian troops in the most vulnerable, in his opinion, sector of the front.

  • Footage of the destruction of military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which took part in an attempted offensive in the Yuzhno-Donetsk direction

"The enemy did not achieve its tasks, had no success. As a result of the skillful and competent actions of the Eastern Group of Forces, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amounted to more than 250 personnel, 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, 21 armored combat vehicles," the Russian Defense Ministry said.

It is also clarified that the commander of the joint group of forces, the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Army General Valery Gerasimov, during this period was at one of the advanced command posts in this direction.

Summaries of groups of troops in the NVO zone

The head of the press center of the Zapad group, Sergei Zybinsky, said that during the fighting in the Kupyansk direction, artillery crews destroyed the Grad multiple launch rocket system in the area of the Revuchy tract and a tank in the area of the settlement of Berestove with fire from Msta-S howitzers.

In addition, the RKhBZ units fired from the Solntsepyok heavy flamethrower system and attacked the accumulation of manpower, weapons and military equipment of the 103rd Separate Territorial Defense Brigade in the area of the settlement of Novoselovskoye.

Along with this, the group's aircraft launched missile and bomb strikes on the areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment of the 14th and 92nd separate mechanized brigades and territorial defense units.

In addition to this, air defense systems, the Leleka-100 reconnaissance drone was destroyed by fire from the Thor anti-aircraft missile system.

According to the head of the press center of the "South" group, Vadim Astafyev, the artillerymen destroyed a platoon stronghold and a firing position of the enemy's AGS-17 mortar crew in the area of the settlement of Spirne, an ammunition depot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of Rai-Aleksandrovka, as well as an artillery gun and supply equipment in the area of Seversk, an infantry fighting vehicle at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement of Stupochka and two pickup trucks near Bogdanovka.

Astafyev also said that a volley of the Solntsepyok flamethrower system of the RKhBZ compound of the Southern Military District destroyed an enemy platoon stronghold in the area of the settlement of Krasnoye.

In the Avdiivka direction, the Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile system shot down an American-made JDAM guided aerial bomb.

In addition, special forces units of the "South" group used the Lancet guided munition to destroy the Ukrainian reconnaissance radar station.

According to the head of the press center of the Center group, Oleksandr Savchuk, in the Krasnoliman direction, during the counter-battery fight, the position of the enemy's M777 howitzer was opened. The target was subsequently destroyed by the Lancet crew.

During missile and bomb strikes, the group's aircraft destroyed strongholds, as well as concentrations of manpower and fire weapons of Ukrainian troops near eight settlements.

On the Nevsky site in the area of the Serebryansky forestry, the movement of the 63rd and 67th mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the 5th brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, was revealed. Aviation and artillery attacked the enemy, as a result of which units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered significant losses and dispersed in the forest.