(RFE/RL) — Ukraine fired missiles and artillery at 15 areas where Russia troops were concentrated on June 14 as Russia tried to use its advantage in manpower, equipment, and air support to seize territory in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv’s General Staff said.
“Despite the intense enemy onslaught, the Ukrainian soldiers fought back hard and effectively,” the General Staff said in its late summary of the day’s fighting.
The Ukrainian military said there were 81 combat clashes during the day, while the Russian military said its troops seized about a dozen settlements, and the governor of the Belgorod region said five people were killed in attacks on the region.
In the area around Kharkiv, Russian forces supported by air power, tried to storm the positions of Ukrainian units in the Vovchansk and Tykhoy districts three times. All enemy attacks were repelled, Kyiv said.
At the same time, 10 combat clashes took place near Kupyansk, and Russian forces also tried to improve their positions in several towns in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The Ukrainian military said all enemy assaults near Sinkyvka were repulsed, while battles were still going on elsewhere.
Russian troops also attacked towns near Lyman in the Donetsk region. The General Staff described the situation as under control, saying four clashes had ended, while five were still ongoing.
The armed forces also noted that the Russian Army was “intensively” attacking in the Pokrovskiy area, where Ukrainian defenders repelled 17 attacks. At least a dozen other clashes were ongoing.
“The situation is difficult, but controlled by the defense forces,” the General Staff said. Ukrainian soldiers “are making efforts to prevent the enemy from advancing deep into Ukrainian territory.”
The claims could not be independently verified.
In the Russian region around the city of Belgorod, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Ukrainian attacks killed five people on June 14.
Gladkov said on Telegram that two bodies had been pulled from an apartment building hit by Ukrainian shelling in the border town of Shebekino.
Emergency services, quoted by news agencies, said a third body was later found in the rubble after shelling caused a stairwell to collapse.
A drone also struck a car in a village near Shebekino, killing the driver, and a woman was killed in her home when it was struck by rocket fire in the village of Oktyabrsky.