MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The Russian Armed Forces' Battlegroup South has repelled eight enemy attacks over the day in the Donetsk area, while Ukrainian troops have lost up to 350 servicemen and 16 pieces of military hardware, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

It specified that the total losses of the Ukrainian army in that area amounted to up to 350 military killed and wounded, three infantry fighting vehicles, APCs, five vehicles, one US-made M777 howitzer, a Msta-B howitzer, two Akatsiya motorized artillery systems, three D-30 howitzers and a Gvozdika motorized artillery system.

The Ukrainian army has also lost up to 80 military personnel and a US-made M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer in the Kherson area in the past day, the ministry said. The Ukrainian armed forces’ losses in the Krasny Liman area have amounted to 100 military personnel, it added. Ukrainian troops also lost an armored combat vehicle, two vehicles, as well as a D-30 howitzer there, the ministry said.

Ukraine’s losses amounted to roughly 70 military personnel and a Gvozdika motorized artillery system in the Zaporozhye area over the past day, it went on to say.The Russian Armed Forces' Battlegroup West has repulsed four enemy attacks near Sinkovka in the Kupyansk area over the day, with Ukraine’s losses making up over 40 servicemen and four pieces of military hardware, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The Russian army also hit Norwegian NASAMS and French Crotale-NG air defense systems at the Starokonstantinov airfield in the Khmelnitsky region, the ministry added.