Ukrainian army officer: They try to besiege us but fail

The situation in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, north of Slovyansk, in the Izyum direction, remains strained. Russian armed forces try to advance and besiege Ukrainians, throwing many troops and equipment into the fight, but they fail, Ukrainian army officer, director of the International Center for Combating Russian Propaganda, Yury Kochevenko told Report's Eastern European Bureau.

He noted that, despite the very active use of artillery and attempts to use aviation, the Russian armed forces are failing:

"Our air defense forces have learned to cope with their planes and helicopters at any height. Just yesterday, a Stinger shot down a Russian Ka-52 helicopter. Two months have passed since the start of the war, but as you can see, the enemy failed to achieve any of their goals here in Donbas. The Ukrainian army is in a state of high combat readiness, is engaged in active combat operations, repulsing enemy attacks and inflicting heavy losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment."

Kochevenko stressed that several units of Russian military equipment — tanks, helicopters, etc. — are being destroyed every day.

"They attack every time because they have a lot of this equipment, but the enemy's losses are large. Of course, we also have losses. But not so much. Our army has a high level of morale and combat capability," Kochevenko added.