Ukraine’s 79th Brigade said it repelled one of the largest Russian attacks near Kurakhove

Soldiers of Ukraine’s 79th Tauride Air Assault Brigade said they had repelled one of the largest Russian attacks in the Kurakhove sector since the start of Moscow’s all-out war.

Russia is conducting heavy attacks in several sectors of the Eastern Front, trying to break through Ukrainian defenses in the Donetsk region towards the cities of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove. In the Kurakhove sector alone, Ukrainian troops repelled 29 attacks, the General Staff said in its latest update.

The Russian army launched the attack simultaneously from several directions at dawn on July 24, the brigade said, releasing footage showing the attack.

The attack reportedly involved 57 armored vehicles, including eleven tanks, twelve motorcycles and 200 assault vehicles.

The brigade spotted the Russian equipment in advance and opened artillery fire on the Moscow forces. The first tanks and armored combat vehicles were stopped by drone pilots, the military said. Several vehicles exploded on mines placed by the brigade.

According to the statement, Ukrainian paratroopers damaged six Russian tanks and seven armored vehicles and destroyed all motorcycles. Forty Russian soldiers were killed and 37 others injured, the brigade said.

“After the first tanks and armored vehicles were hit, the remaining equipment fled the battlefield,” the military added.

The Kyiv Independent could not confirm these reports.

According to crowdsourcing surveillance website DeepState, Moscow captured Prorohres – a village more than 23 kilometers east of Pokrovsk – over the weekend and is now trying to encircle Ukrainian units nearby.

Following these claims, the Ukrainian military said that Russian soldiers near Prorohres were under Ukrainian fire and that fighting was ongoing.

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Editor’s note: In accordance with Ukrainian military security protocols, soldiers featured in this story are identified only by first name and call sign. DONETSK OBLAST – By the time the headlights of the old pickup truck came on, there was barely anything resembling a road in front of the driver.