Russian troops are improving their positions in the direction of Avdiivka, Dennis Pusilin, acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic, said on Rossiya 24 TV channel.
"Avdiivka direction: there have been several improvements in the positions of our units. It is rather difficult to move forward, but our units are moving forward," he said.
According to the acting head of the region, Ukraine's Armed Forces are suffering "quite serious losses" in personnel and military equipment.
As reported last week by Pushilin's adviser, Yan Gagin, the Russian army is using in the direction of Avdeevka tactics that were used earlier during the liberation of Bakhmut and Soledar: the armed forces are attacking the Armed Forces of Ukraine from three sides, "on the front and on the flanks".
At the same time, he noted that the Ukrainian army had turned Avdeevka into a "seriously fortified area" with kilometres of fortifications. But the forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this direction have been exhausted and the intensity of enemy attacks has significantly decreased during the month, Gagin said.
Avdeevka is one of the main fortified areas of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of Donetsk. From there, since 2014, Ukrainian troops have been continuously shelling the districts of the capital of the People's Republic since 2014.
In July, 3 residents of the Lugansk People's Republic were killed and 11 others were wounded by shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), according to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Republic, Victoria Serdyukova.
"From July 1 to July 31 of this year, 20 shelling by the armed formations of Ukraine were recorded in 9 settlements of the Lugansk People's Republic, resulting in 11 people being injured and 3 killed. <...> Settlements and civilian infrastructure were damaged and destroyed," she wrote on her Telegram channel.
Serdyukova said that as a result of the explosions, two people were injured during that period.
At the same time, units of the Vostok forces group destroyed a temporary militant deployment point in the Ugledar region, a concentration of human resources in the Uglesborochnaya region and a control point for drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was announced by the head of the group's press center Oleg Chekhov.
"The Howitzer artillery fire destroyed: a temporary militant deployment point in the Ugledar region, a concentration of nationalist manpower in the Uglesborochnaya region, a mortar crew east of Urozhaynoye and a control point for drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine east of Makarovka," Chekhov said in a video released on the Russian Defense Ministry's Telegram channel.
According to him, the advanced units of the Vostok force group, supported by artillery, are inflicting pre-emptive fire on the enemy.
"Artillery fire destroyed a truck with nationalists in the Novomichevka region, a mortar crew and a group of fighters north of Nikolsky. <...> An M777 howitzer west of Neskuchnoe was destroyed by Lancet ammunition," added the head of the group's press centre.
As Chekhov explained, the aircraft hit temporary deployment sites, as well as places of concentration of manpower and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Staromayorsky, Makarovka and Priyutny regions. "The crew of the Tor anti-aircraft missile system shot down a Leleka drone of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," he said.
