MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/. The units of the battlegroup East repelled three attacks by the Ukrainian army in the southern Donetsk direction over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"In the southern Donetsk direction, the units of the battlegroup East supported by aviation and artillery repelled three attacks by the 127th territorial defense brigade of the Ukrainian army to the north of the settlement of Priyutnoye of the Zaporozhye Region," the report reads.

The troops of Ukraine’s 79th air assault brigade were also hit near the settlement of Novomikhailovka of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the ministry said. "The enemy’s losses reached up to 130 troops dead and injured, two armored combat vehicles, three cars, as well as a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system," the ministry added.