GENICHESK, June 28. /TASS/. Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian mortar team and a howitzer in the Kherson area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, a spokesman for the regional emergency services said on Wednesday.

"A position of a Ukrainian army unit was destroyed in the Kherson direction as a result of damage by firepower inflicted by the forces of the Dnepr battlegroup. The strike killed 15 Ukrainian soldiers and another nine received wounds of varying severity. A D-20 gun-howitzer with ammunition [was destroyed], with four Ukrainian personnel killed and another three sustaining wounds of varying severity. A 120mm mortar team with its crew and ammunition [was destroyed], with five Ukrainian soldiers killed and another two sustaining wounds of varying severity," the spokesman said.

Russian forces destroyed two pieces of Ukrainian watercraft in the island zone and wiped out two enemy positions near the settlements of Mylovoye and Respublikanets in the Kakhovka direction, the spokesman said.