MELITOPOL, March 27. /TASS/. Russian troops moved forward northeast of Novoprokopovka and northwest of Rabotino in the Zaporozhye area, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together with Russia public movement, told TASS on Wednesday.
"There are successes northeast of Novoprokopovka where our fighters have advanced by at least 200 meters, thus beginning to even out the Rabotino bulge. They have improved forward edge positions northwest of Rabotino and moved forward by hundreds of meters," the politician said.
Over the past 24 hours, Russian troops repulsed several Ukrainian army counterattacks in the Orekhov direction, he added.
"There were enemy counterattacks in Rabotino itself, northwest of Nesteryanka and northwest of Verbovoye where our troops had earlier advanced noticeably. All of these counterattacks were repulsed and the enemy suffered heavy losses," Rogov said.
The Ukrainian army units from the Chernovtsy Region deployed to the Rabotino area have been suffering heavy casualties over the past few days, he added.
Rogov told TASS on March 25 that Russian troops had breached Ukrainian army defenses northwest of Verbovoye in the Zaporozhye Region and advanced by 2 km in that area.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported in late February that Russian forces had gained foothold in the settlement of Rabotino in their offensive operation. The Ukrainian military has been unsuccessfully trying to regain its lost positions by bringing reinforcements from other directions to that area.
The ministry reported on March 22 that units of Russia’s Battlegroup East had liberated the community of Mirnoye in the Zaporozhye Region and improved their frontline positions in the south Donetsk direction.