A press briefing from Vadim Astafyev, who heads the press center for the Russian group of troops known as “South,” reported that Russian forces repelled Ukrainian assaults near the village of Kleshcheevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and closed in on the Ukrainian defense line. According to the briefing, units within the group stood firm against advancing units of the 5th separate assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kleshcheevka area.
Astafyev noted that Ukrainian fighters sustained more than 15 casualties in the engagement. He also described how, as a result of the offensive operations in the Donetsk direction, Russian troops managed to breach enemy defenses along the front span extending from the settlements of Maryinka and Vodyanaya to Spornaya and Tonenkaya, reaching a depth of roughly 300 to 600 meters. The assessment attributed the success to a concentrated fire assault that targeted Ukrainian positions near Avdeevka, Severnaya, Ocheretino, and Novokalinovo.
In this front sector, Astafyev said, Ukrainian forces lost a number of armored and artillery assets, including 11 MaxxPro armored personnel carriers, two armored vehicles, and towed howitzers Msta-B, D-20, and D-30, along with 120-millimeter mortars. He added that a counter-battery operation resulted in the destruction of three large-caliber mortars and a Krab self-propelled howitzer of Polish manufacture in the settlements of Georgievka, Kleshcheevka, and Stupochki.
Earlier, official statements from the Russian Defense Ministry indicated that an assault group of Ukrainian forces near Kleshcheevka had been neutralized. Separately, reports from Espanyol, a volunteer unit associated with football club supporters, claimed to have dismantled an attack by Ukrainian forces in the same area. An individual described as a former Ukrainian serviceman suggested there was a lack of clarity about the underlying causes of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.