Kyiv's forces destroyed an elite Russian military unit throughout a battle that raged for greater than 14 hours, in keeping with Ukraine's army.

The eightieth assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine mentioned on its Fb web page that its troops had efficiently stopped a Russian try to advance through a strategically necessary freeway in japanese Ukraine.

The publish mentioned that the Ukrainian paratroop brigade, which is garrisoned in Lviv, used NLAW grenade launchers to assault a Russian BMD fight automobile and troops. It mentioned that fifty personnel have been killed from the Pskov-based 76th Guards Air Assault Division, "which is taken into account elite within the Russian armed forces."

A senior lieutenant and senior soldier from the Ukrainian brigade refused evacuation regardless of struggling wounds and continued to guide fireplace till Russian troops retreated, leaving the our bodies of the useless behind, the publish mentioned.

 Severodonetsk, Ukraine
On this picture, smoke rises above the Ukrainian metropolis of Severodonetsk throughout preventing between Ukrainian and Russian troops on June 2, 2022. Ukraine's army has mentioned that its eightieth assault brigade had destroyed a unit of Russia's 76th Guards Air Assault Division. ARIS MESSINIS/Getty Photos

"The coordinated actions of the artillery items of the eightieth brigade, ultimately, inflicted a mass artillery strike on the enemy," mentioned the publish in Ukrainian, in keeping with a translation.

Russia has not commented on the alleged battle and Newsweek has contacted the Russian protection ministry for remark.

Whereas Tuesday's publish by the Ukrainian army didn't title the city the place the battle happened, it comes as Russia focuses its assaults on Severodonetsk and Lysychansk because it seeks to seize all of japanese Ukraine's Donbas area.

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Russian Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu mentioned Tuesday that his forces have "totally liberated" residential neighborhoods of Severodonetsk and are advancing within the city of Popasna.

"Its industrial zone and close by settlements proceed to be taken below management," he mentioned in a protection ministry briefing, in keeping with Russian state company RIA Novosti.

Shoigu additionally mentioned highway visitors can journey from Russia to annexed Crimea through territories captured in southeastern Ukraine. He added that Russian forces have captured 6,489 Ukrainian troops.

Nonetheless, the precise scope of Russian positive factors in Severodonetsk remains to be unsure. The U.S. suppose tank the Institute for the Examine of Struggle (ISW) mentioned that the character of city fight is "obfuscating studies of management of terrain inside" the town though it added it was "seemingly" that Moscow's forces management a lot of it.

"The precise state of affairs within the metropolis stays unclear," the ISW mentioned Monday. "Management of terrain is probably going altering palms continuously."

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, mentioned final week that Ukrainian troops had recaptured round one fifth of Severodonetsk from Russian forces, amid warnings that ought to the town fall it may result in Moscow's full occupation of the Luhansk area.