MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Artillery units of Russia’s Southern Military District hit a Ukrainian stronghold in the southern Donetsk area, killing more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers, the Russian defense ministry said.

"Crews of 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers of the artillery unit of the 49th army neutralized more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers inside a stronghold in the southern Donetsk area in the zone of the special military operation," it said.

According to the ministry, the stronghold was used for attempting another attack. "Reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles of the Battlegroup South detected a throng of servicemen of Ukrainian nationalist units in a forest, which indicated that they were forming an assault group for another attack attempt," the ministry said, adding that Russian artillery crews hit several dugouts with troops. "Artillery fire was adjusted in real time from unmanned aerial vehicles," it noted.