MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army has lost up to 110 military personnel in the South Donetsk area in the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"In the South Donetsk area, units of the Battlegroup East, supported by artillery fire and air strikes, have inflicted fire damage on the concentration of manpower of the Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade near the Novomikhailovka settlement of the Donetsk People's Republic. The losses of the enemy amounted to up to 110 servicemen and two pickup trucks", the ministry reported.

It added that US-made M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, as well as Akatsiya and Gvozdika self-propelled artillery guns were also hit.