The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces launched a military operation in southern Donetsk on Monday in an attempt to advance, but the advance was halted after the Ukrainians suffered “significant casualties,” CNN reported. ro.

The Russian army claims to have killed 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers during its repulsed offensive, writes the Russian news agency TASS.

The Russian agency said on Monday that its troops repelled a “large-scale offensive” by Ukrainian forces in the south of Donetsk.

On Monday, Ukrainian troops “were subjected to a complex armed attack by the army, airborne assault and operational-tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery, as well as heavy thermobaric systems,” the Russian agency reported on the Telegram channel on Tuesday.

The ministry also reported that Russian troops destroyed “28 tanks, including eight Leopard main battle tanks, and 109 armored combat vehicles.”

CNN was unable to independently verify the information and reached out to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry for comment, but has not yet heard back.

Ukrainian officials said that the units recaptured the territory on the northern and southern flanks of the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country.

The Minister of Defense of Ukraine stated that the units are “conducting offensive actions” in the city.

The Ukrainian military said on Monday it had no information about a major offensive that Russia said Kyiv had launched at five points along the front line in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Reuters reported.

Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Malyar said on Monday that Russian reports about the start of a counteroffensive against Ukraine are intended to divert attention from Russian losses in the Bakhmut area.

Meanwhile, the leader of Russian mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Ukrainian troops had captured part of the settlement of Berkhivka north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, calling it a “disgrace” for the Russian army.

Berkhivka is about 3 km northwest of Bakhmut, and Wagner said he captured it on February 24.

Ukraine has enough weapons to launch a counteroffensive against Russia and the operation will give the country the victory it needs to join NATO, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Reuters on Monday.