(Reuters) – Large contingents of Russian forces are on the offensive in northeastern Ukraine’s Kupiansk sector and engaged in heavy fighting, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar, writing on Telegram, said: “For two days running, the enemy has been actively on the offensive in the Kupiansk sector in Kharkiv region. We are defending. Heavy fighting is going on and the positions of both sides change dynamically several times a day.”
Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of troops, told national television the Russian military had amassed more than 100,000 troops and more than 900 tanks in the area. Ukrainian forces were holding their lines, he said.
Reuters was unable to verify battlefield accounts.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksander Kozhukhar; Editing by Alex Richardson)
