MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops sustained heavy casualties in their attempt to seize a Russian stronghold between the settlements of Nizhnyaya Duvanka and Svatovo, military expert from the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Colonel Vitaly Kiselyov said on Monday.

"From the direction of Kupyansk-Uzlovoy, the southern side near Kuzyomovka between Nizhnyaya Duvanka and Svatovo, about 35 militants of the 67th [Ukrainian army] brigade made an attempt without equipment to seize our stronghold. As a result of a two-hour small arms battle, the enemy suffered the strongest defeat and a large number of killed and wounded militants remained lying in the gray zone," the LPR officer said in a live broadcast on Russia’s TV Channel One.

After that, the enemy made another attempt to conduct reconnaissance by fire in that area with the support of three infantry fighting vehicles, he said.

"Our reconnaissance timely uncovered them and assault aircraft have kept destroying the enemy there in the past 24 hours, revealing personnel and equipment and eliminating them together with artillery," the military expert said.