Russia carried out at least 62 airstrikes and 15 missile strikes in the last 24 hours, according to the Ukrainian military, while its forces also rebuffed more than a dozen ground assaults.
Areas that came under attack, according to Ukraine’s General Staff, included Kupyansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where mortar and artillery fire hit a number of settlements.
Further south, “the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensives near Makiivka in Luhansk region and Spirne in Donetsk region over the last day,” the General Staff said.
In both areas, as well as around the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, there were Russian airstrikes, it said. Russia has been trying to surround Avdiivka for months.
Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine: Earlier Friday, the Russian defense ministry said Chechen units were launching an assault against the ruined town of Marinka in the Donetsk region. “Our defenders repelled all 8 enemy attacks,” the General Staff said.
On Russian soil: Ukraine’s military also claimed the Russian military was sending cadets to help defend Russia’s border after settlements in the Belgorod region have come under increased fire by anti-Putin groups.