ISTANBUL

Russia claimed on Monday that it took control of the village of Krasnopolivka, north of Soledar city, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

A statement by the Russian Defense Ministry read that over 60 Ukrainian military personnel were killed, while “two armored combat vehicles, three vehicles, two MSTA-B and D-30 howitzers, as well as a US-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radars, were destroyed in this direction in a day.”

The statement further claimed that a strike by the Russian military on a temporary deployment point of the Ukrainian army near the village of Marhanets in southeastern Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region destroyed a US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed last Friday that it took Ukraine's city of Soledar under control on Thursday evening.

The speaker of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Cherevaty, in an exclusive commentary to RBC-Ukraine, denied this information, claiming that fighting is still taking place in the city.

Soledar is located near the strategic city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, a large transport hub through which Ukrainian troops are supplied with weapons, military equipment, and ammunition.