MELITOPOL, October 6. /TASS/. Heavy fighting in the Orekhov area has been underway since Thursday night with Russian forces repelling three waves of attacks by the Ukrainian army, Vladimir Rogov, leader of the We Are Together With Russia movement, wrote on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, he said that Ukrainian troops launched another offensive in the Orekhov area at 10 p.m. Moscow time on Thursday involving about 20 units of armor.

"Ukrainian fighters’ attempt to break through between [the villages of] Rabotino and Kopani resulted in the elimination of the adversary’s hardware and personnel; the enemy infantry was dispersed by artillery. In all, since last night, between Rabotino and Kopani, the Nazis attempted three waves of unsuccessful attacks, aiming to break through our defenses. Heavy fighting continues," Rogov wrote.

He added that, in the morning, Ukrainian troops began attacking Russian positions north of [the village of] Novoprokopovka. In the offensive, several servicemen were killed or sustained wounds, while some of them surrendered, the politician added.

Since June 4 the Ukrainian side has been attempting to advance without success. On October 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Kiev regime had already lost over 90,000 troops and more than 550 tanks. On September 26, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that, only over that month, Ukrainian losses had surpassed 17,000 with the "counteroffensive" failing to achieve substantial results.