MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 550 troops in the Donetsk area in the past 24 hours, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

"The enemy’s total losses in this [Donetsk] area exceeded 550 troops, a tank, two armored combat vehicles, four cars, as well as a Msta-B howitzer," the report said.

The units of the battlegroup South supported by aviation, artillery and heavy flamethrowers repelled two attacks by the 54th mechanized and the 5th assault brigade of the Ukrainian army near Bogdanovka and Kleshcheyevka, the ministry said, adding that Ukrainian manpower and equipment were defeated in the area of the settlements of Veseloye, Nikolayevka, Krasnoye, Kurdyumovka and Vasyukovka of the Donetsk People’s Republic.