GENICHESK, June 7. /TASS/. Russian forces destroyed over 70 Ukrainian troops, a US-made M777 howitzer and several other artillery guns in the Kherson area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, a spokesman for the regional emergency services reported on Wednesday.

"In the Kherson direction in the past 24 hours, units of the battlegroup Dnepr destroyed a 2S1 Gvozdika motorized artillery system with its five-member crew and ammunition and two 120mm mortar teams and ammunition as a result of damage inflicted by firepower with the following casualties: five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another six sustained wounds of varying severity; an M777 howitzer with ammunition near the settlement of Chervonnaya Zorka with the following casualties: three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and three others suffered wounds of varying severity," the spokesman said.

In addition, the Ukrainian military lost eight boats in the Kherson area, with 16 personnel killed and four others suffering wounds of varying severity. Russian forces also struck the deployment site of a Ukrainian army unit near the settlement of Priozyornoye, killing five and wounding two enemy troops, he said.

The Ukrainian military also lost another 20 soldiers killed in the frontline’s island zone in the Dnieper estuary. In addition, Russian forces destroyed five enemy boats and delivered strikes against Ukrainian army positions near the settlements of Kizomys, Stanislav and Solonchaki, the spokesman said.

In the Kakhovka frontline sector, Russian forces wiped out Ukrainian D-30 and Msta-B howitzers and four mortars, killing 24 and wounding 15 enemy soldiers, he said.