MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. The western battlegroup has successfully thwarted three Ukrainian attempts to rotate troops in forward positions in the Kupyansk area, Battlegroup West Spokesman Sergey Zybinsky reported.

"[The battlegroup West] has thwarted three Ukrainian attempts to rotate troops in forward positions in the area of the settlements of Sinkovka, Pershotravnevoye and Kislovka," the Defense Ministry quoted the spokesman as saying in a video published on Tuesday.

According to Zybinsky, Russian aviation hit personnel, weapons and equipment of the 14 separate mechanized brigade and the territorial defense units. The spokesman added that a Tor anti-aircraft missile system destroyed a Furia reconnaissance drone.