MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. Servicemen of the Battlegroup East delivered strikes against advancing Ukrainian army in areas between Ravnopol and Makarovka in the Southern Donetsk area, Battlegroup spokesman Oleg Chekhov told TASS.

"Frontline units of the Battlegroup East, supported by the artillery, fired for effect in the Southern Donetsk area against advancing forces of the adversary in zones between Ravnopol and Makarovka. The manpower of fighters was destroyed. During the counter-battery activity, a mortar crew near Zolotaya Niva area, an Msta-B howitzer in the vicinity of Novy Komar, and a pickup truck with nationalists close to Prechistovka were destroyed by artillery fire," the spokesman said.

Army aviation hit gathered fighters and destroyed three combat armored vehicles near Urozhainoe and a group of fighters near Makarovka and Novodonetskoe, Chekhov added.