On the evening of 16 April, Russian troops launched a large-scale assault in the southern direction, involving hundreds of infantrymen and dozens of armoured vehicles.
This was reported by the Southern Ukrainian Defence Forces.
At around 18:00, the occupiers launched an assault near the settlements of Pyatikhatki, Stepove, Lobkove, Mala Tokmachka and Mali Shcherbaki. At least 320 soldiers, three tanks, about 40 armoured vehicles and a dozen buggies took part in the assault.
Units of several regiments of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation were involved in the offensive.
Thanks to aerial reconnaissance, Ukrainian defenders detected the enemy’s movements in advance and launched strikes with drones and artillery. The first hit of Russian equipment (three armoured personnel carriers) occurred 8 kilometres before the line of contact.
The battle lasted over two and a half hours. As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed 29 pieces of equipment and 140 occupants, and three more enemy tanks were damaged.
‘As a result, the enemy did not succeed, and the Ukrainian Defence Forces did not lose a single position,’ the military said.