On Monday, Russia said Ukrainian forces over the weekend had begun a major offensive in the southern part of the Donetsk region, which it had also thwarted.
The latest Russian defence ministry statement said Russian forces had inflicted huge personnel losses on attacking Ukrainian forces and destroyed 28 tanks, including eight Leopard main battle tanks and 109 armoured vehicles.
It said total Ukrainian losses amounted to 1,500 troops.
Russia and Ukraine have often made claims of inflicting heavy human losses on each other which could not be independently verified.
In a promotional video released on Sunday and urging silence in regards to any military actions, Ukraine's defence ministry said: "Plans like silence - the beginning will not be announced."
Persons:
Zelenskiy, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Vladimir Putin, Bakhmut, John Kirby, I'm, Dmytro Kuleba, Hanna Maliar, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Reuters bureaux, Lidia Kelly, Ron Popeski, David Brunnstrom, Rosalba O'Brien
Organizations:
Defence Ministry, Sunday Ukraine, KYIV, Kremlin, Ukrainian, Reuters, Washington Post, White House, Monday Ukraine, Ukraine's, Staff, Ukraine, Thomson
Locations:
Moscow, Ukrainian, Donetsk, Russia, Ukraine, Bakhmut, Crimean, Kiev, Kyiv, Crimea