MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. The Russian Battlegroup East curbed eight enemy attempts to perform rotation of forces in the South Donetsk direction, Battlegroup Spokesman Alexander Gordeev told TASS.

"Eight enemy attempts to rotate fighters in areas of Novomikhailovka, Staromayorskoye, Novodarovka and Priyutnoye were prevented over the day, and manpower in Ugledar and Prechistovka areas was engaged," Gordeev said. The Ukrainian army lost eight mortar teams, two pickup trucks, up to ninety servicemen killed or wounded, an M-102 towed howitzer and a T-64 tank, he added.

Temporary stationing points and manpower concentration areas of the Ukrainian 79th airborne assault brigade were engaged in Novomikhailovka, Konstantinovka, and Elizavetovka, Gordeev said.