In the Artemovsk area of the Donetsk People’s Republic, units from Ivanovo conducted a defense that reportedly stopped an offensive by Ukrainian forces. The information emerged from the Russian military’s official channels and was reported by TASS. The defense ministry outlined that after initial reconnaissance of the sector, including aerial assessment with unmanned aircraft, data indicated Ukrainian groups advancing toward forested areas near the city outskirts. The ministry credited the parachute unit with coordinating actions that successfully repelled the assault, according to its briefing.
The ministry added that the crew operating an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher played a notable part in the defense against the attack, contributing to the engagement’s outcome as described by the defense authorities.
On October 20, Sergei Zybinsky, head of the press center for the Western group of troops, stated that the Russian forces managed to withstand 11 Ukrainian attempts in the Kupyansk direction and reported that up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen were destroyed in those engagements, according to the ministry’s account.
Earlier, Yan Gagin, who serves as an adviser to the head of the DPR, claimed that Ukrainian forces deployed chemical agents in the Artemovsk and Donetsk directions. He asserted that soldiers could detect a distinct odor in the air before any poisoning symptoms appeared and attributed the alleged use to chloropicrin, as reported by him.
Additionally, remarks attributed to a former Ukrainian serviceman suggested a sense of uncertainty about the underlying causes of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, reflecting a range of perspectives surrounding the broader military situation in the region.