Ukraine announced today Monday that repulsed 55 attacks in the east, in the Donetsk region; a day after admitting a worsening situation on the front line.

Moscow said over the weekend it had captured another village in eastern Ukraine. Novobahmutifka, while Kiev’s forces eagerly await the arrival of vital US weapons.

The Ukrainian military said it “repelled 55 attacks” on several villages north and east of Novobakhmutifka. Among them, Otseretinye, where heavy fighting was reported yesterday, Sunday.

These villages are located north of the city Avdiivka, occupied by Russian soldiers in February. Since then Moscow’s forces have pushed deeper into the Donetsk region.

Further south, Ukraine says its troops “continue to engage the enemy” in many areas west of the Russian-held city of Donetsk. mainly in the city of Krasnogorivka.

Kiev says Russian forces “with the support of the air force, attempted 15 times to penetrate the defenses of our troops”.

Krasnogorivka is located about 20 km west of Donetsk and is an important stronghold for Kiev.

The region has become more vulnerable since the fall of Marinka and Abdiivka, and fighting there has reportedly increased in recent weeks.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, admitted on Sunday that his men had withdrawn in new defensive positions further west in some sectors.

Kiev also predicted that Russia would try to pick up some victories ahead of the May 9 national holiday commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany.

“Russia must support the current dynamics in the ‘zone of special military operations’ while panic on the part of the enemy grows,” the Kremlin spokesman said Dmitry Peskov.