Russia’s Defense Ministry announced in the early hours of the morning that its troops repelled a new large-scale raid by the Ukrainian armed forces in the Donetsk region, inflicting heavy casualties on them and destroying eight Leopard heavy tanks.

“After suffering heavy losses the previous day, the Kiev regime reorganized the remnants of the 23rd and 31st motorized brigades into separate reconstituted units, which continued offensive operations,” the ministry said via Telegram.

“They were defeated by complex fire from (Russian) army forces, aircraft, missile forces and artillery, as well as heavy flamethrowers,” he added.

On Monday, Moscow reported that Ukrainian forces had launched a large-scale offensive in the Donetsk region, although it was not yet clear whether this was their much-discussed counter-offensive.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on Donetsk and dodged questions on the issue yesterday.

In a propaganda video distributed the day before Sunday, demanding everyone’s silence about the army’s actions, the Ministry of Defense said that “the beginning” of the counterattack “will not be announced.”

Russia’s defense ministry said its forces destroyed 28 tanks, including 8 Leopards sent to Kiev by its Western allies, as well as 109 armored fighting vehicles (AVM). He estimated that the Ukrainian losses amounted to 10,500 military personnel, without clarifying whether this number refers only to dead or wounded.

Kiev has not yet commented on Moscow’s claims.

Both sides in the 16-month-old war often say they inflicted heavy losses on the other, something impossible to independently verify.