MOSOCW, December 18. /TASS/. Forces of Battlegroup East repelled five attacks of a Ukrainian airborne brigade near Novomikhaylovka on the southern Donetsk Direction, battlegroup spokesman Alexander Gordeyev told TASS.

"During an active defense, motorized infantry units, supported by artillery and army aviation, repelled five attacks of Ukraine’s 79th Airborne Brigade in Novomikhaylovka," Gordeyev said.

He specified that aviation and artillery strikes hit deployment and concentration areas of the 79th Brigade, the 72nd Mechanized and the 58th Motorized brigades near Novomikhaylovka, Konstantinovka, Ugledar and Urozhaynoye.