MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Ukraine's army suffered up to 70 casualties in the past day in the Kupyansk area; the activity of four sabotage and reconnaissance groups was thwarted, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov told a briefing on Sunday.

"In the Kupyansk area, air strikes and artillery fire the battlegroup West hit enemy manpower and military hardware in the area of Novomlyns, Sinkovka, Olshana and Timkovka settlements of the Kharkov Region. In the past day, up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen, three vehicles, two pickup trucks, as well as a D-20 howitzer were destroyed in that area," he said.

According to Konashenkov, the activities of four Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups were thwarted in the areas of Berestovoye settlement of the Kharkov Region, Rozovka and Novoselovskoye in the Lugansk People's Republic and Liman in the Donetsk People's Republic.