MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. Units of the Russian battlegroup West have repelled a total of five attacks and counterattacks by assault groups from two Ukrainian brigades in the Kharkov Region and the Donetsk People's Republic, Sergey Zybinsky, a spokesman for the battlegroup, told TASS.

"The battlegroup's motorized rifle units, acting in cooperation with artillery, repelled two attacks and three counterattacks by assault groups from the Ukrainian 32nd Mechanized Brigade and the 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade in the areas of Sinkovka and Terny. All attacks and counterattacks were repulsed. The enemy was forced to withdraw in the southern and western directions," he said.

Zybinsky also said the battlegroup's heavy flamethrower systems inflicted three strikes on strongpoints of platoons from the Ukrainian 60th Mechanized Brigade in the area of Tabayevka in the Kharkov region.

"The enemy's losses in the Kupyansk area were up to 25 servicemen, two armored fighting vehicles and three pickup trucks," he said.