MELITOPOL, October 23. /TASS/. Russian forces destroyed several Ukrainian army strongholds near the settlement of Verbovoye in the Zaporozhye Region, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together with Russia movement, told TASS on Monday.
"Russian forces pounded enemy targets with TOS [heavy flamethrower systems] quite successfully. They torched several [Ukrainian army] strongholds near the village of Verbovoye," the politician said.
"The number of destroyed enemy forces runs into tens of personnel," he specified.
The Ukrainian military also continues futile attempts to attack the village of Novoprokopovka, Rogov said.
"Its attacks there were countered by our retaliatory fire. The enemy had no success there and lost about two heavily armored vehicles and about twenty militants killed," he said.
The Ukrainian military has begun to employ cluster munitions in the Zaporozhye area increasingly actively, firing them both from artillery guns and multiple launch rocket systems, Rogov said.
The Ukrainian army has been making unsuccessful attempts to advance since June 4. As Russian President Vladimir Putin said on October 5, Kiev has lost over 90,000 troops and more than 550 tanks over four months of its counteroffensive. Putin said that the Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive had completely failed, although Kiev was preparing new offensive operations in some frontline sectors.