RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian air defenses down two Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters, Su-25 attack plane in past day

Russian air defense forces shot down two Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters and a Su-25 attack aircraft over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"Air defense capabilities shot down two Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 fighters and a Su-25 attack plane in areas near Arkhangelskoye in the Kherson Region, Dmitrovka and Zvonetskoye in the Dnepropetrovsk Region," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian forces repel 10 Ukrainian attacks in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces repelled ten Ukrainian army attacks in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, units of the western battlegroup supported by aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower fires repelled in their active operations ten attacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 68th jaeger, 32nd, 44th and 115th mechanized brigades in areas near the settlements of Sinkovka, Ivanovka and Novoyegorovka in the Kharkov Region and Makeyevka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

Russian forces also struck manpower and military hardware of the Ukrainian army’s 112th territorial defense brigade, 14th mechanized and 95th air assault brigades in areas near the settlements of Petropavlovka, Kupyansk and Petrovskoye, the ministry said.

"The enemy lost as many as 85 Ukrainian personnel, two tanks, two armored combat vehicles, a D-20 artillery gun and two 2S1 Gvozdika motorized artillery systems," the ministry specified.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia aims to pierce Ukraine defences in northeast, general says

Russia is aiming to break through Ukrainian defences in the northeastern Kupiansk-Lyman area after a sharp increase in fighting, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces said on Monday.

Footage released by Ukraine's ground forces showed their commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, meeting troops at an undisclosed location in a wooded area. It quoted him as saying fighting in Kupiansk-Lyman had "significantly escalated".

"The enemy is preparing, seriously preparing for offensive actions, bringing in staff," Syrskyi said in the footage posted on the Telegram messaging app. "The main goal is to break through our troops' defences and recapture our territory."

Retaking the towns of Kupiansk and Lyman last year near Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv was a key step in the Ukrainian military's drive to evicting Russian troops from some parts of the country's Donbas industrial heartland.

Russia's Defence Ministry acknowledged intense military activity in the area, saying its troops had repelled 10 Ukrainian attacks in the Kupiansk area and two more in adjacent Lyman.

A spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces said Russian forces in the Kupiansk area were encountering stiff resistance from well-entrenched troops and had been forced to retreat.

"Our fortifications there are quite reliable. We have a powerful, dug-in position," Ilia Yevlash told Ukrainian television. "So the enemy got it right in the teeth and retreated in order to regroup."

Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in June focusing on retaking ground in the east, mainly around Bakhmut, which was seized by Russian forces in May, and on pushing south to the Sea of Azov.

The Ukrainian military has registered mainly incremental gains, but has dismissed some Western critics who say the offensive is moving too slowly.

LULL IN AVDIIVKA

The focus on the eastern front has shifted in the past week from Bakhmut to Avdiivka, a town further southwest known for its large coking plant.

The top local official in Avdiivka said a lull had taken hold in the city, but predicted a new onslaught soon.

"Shelling has diminished, there was less today," Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka's military administration, told national television, while noting two people were killed in a nearby village.

"We expect there will be new waves of heavy attacks in the days to come."

The town, like Bakhmut, is largely destroyed. Strategically important, Avdiivka is located about 20 km (12 miles) west of Donetsk, the region's main city, held by Russian forces since 2014.

Ukraine's general staff, in its evening report, reported heavy fighting in other areas, saying its forces had beaten back 16 attacks near the long-contested town of Maryinka, also west of Donetsk, and three more near Bakhmut.