LUGANSK, May 26. /TASS/. Ukraine lost more than 1,500 soldiers and foreign mercenaries in the battle near Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region, a Russian lawmaker told TASS.

"The Battlegroup West eliminated more than 1,500 nationalists and mercenaries, as well as a huge number of combat vehicles. Ukraine’s 77th army brigade sustained serious losses," Viktor Volodatsky, a member of the Russian State Duma, or lower house of parliament, and a coordinator for interparliamentary ties with the legislature of the Lugansk People’s Republic, said.

According to Volodatsky, after liberating Berestovoye, units of the Battlegroups North and West surround settlements where "nationalists have strongholds."

The Russian defense ministry said earlier that the Battlegroup West had liberated the settlement of Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region. According to the head of the region’s military-civilian administration Vitaly Ganchev, the liberation of Berestovoye will help Russian forces take more advantageous positions in the Kharkov area.