The Russian army launched a major offensive in the area of the eastern Ukrainian town of Dobropilia on Monday with more than 20 armored vehicles, the Ukrainian Azov brigade said, adding that the attack had been repelled, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
So far, Russian authorities have not commented on this information. The General Staff of the Ukrainian army also did not mention the Russian attack in a statement published this afternoon, but indicated that it was conducting "stabilization" operations in the area.
"On October 16, the enemy made another attempt at a massive mechanized attack (in the Dobropilia region)", the Azov brigade said on "Facebook". The publication says that 9 Russian armored vehicles were destroyed in the repulse of the attack and that the Russians' goal was to establish control over the village of Shakhovo, located east of Dobropilia.
The Ukrainian brigade "Azov" also published video footage of the fighting. Reuters notes that it was able to verify that the footage shows the village of Malinovka, located about 13 km south of Shakhovo.
Senior Ukrainian military officials said that in recent weeks Ukraine has made progress and regained control of territories in the Dobropilia area. The Ukrainian military said Russian forces were trapped.
Dobropilia is located near the Pokrovsk logistics center, one of the key targets of Russian troops slowly advancing westward in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has touted the advance of his forces near Dobropilia as a way to show that Ukraine is capable of resisting the Russian offensive.
US President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House yesterday that Ukraine wanted to "go on the offensive", but did not specify where.
The Ukrainian army said today that it had recaptured 182 square kilometers of territory in the Dobropilia area in recent months.
A Russian military blogger, who uses the pseudonym "Military Informant", today published information that Russian forces had tried to expand their positions near Dobropiliya, but added that photos released by Ukraine showed that the armored column was spotted and hit long before it reached the front line.