LUGANSK, May 4. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops are taking such heavy losses near Belogorovka, Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), that they are being forced to redeploy forces there from other directions on a daily basis, a top Russian commander told TASS on Thursday.

"We’ve annihilated so many enemy forces over these days that they are suffering terrible losses. They are redeploying forces from other directions on a daily basis; they are being annihilated every day. And, even as they’re bringing forces in there every day, they’re only taking ‘200s’ and ‘300s’ (military codes for "killed in action" and "wounded," respectively - TASS) out of there, which already speaks for itself," said Apty Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat special forces unit and deputy commander of Russia’s 2nd Army Corps.

On April 25, the New York Times, citing classified Pentagon and US intelligence documents that surfaced online, reported that Ukrainian forces planned to launch a counteroffensive in the south in May. According to Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of private military company (PMC) Wagner, the Ukrainian armed forces have now effectively launched their offensive. He said on Wednesday that the active phase of the Ukrainian offensive could be expected to commence any day now.