July 17 (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.
But officials have pointed to an intensification of Russian activity near Kupiansk and nearby Lyman, towns in the northeast retaken by Ukraine late last year.
Russian forces in the area, Cherevatyi said, had drafted in airborne units and their best motorised infantry units.
The Russian defence ministry's accounts of fighting in the region said Russian forces had hit Ukrainian positions in several towns in Kharkiv and the neighbouring Luhansk region.
Russian forces, the ministry said, had also repelled 13 Ukrainian attacks further south in Donetsk, including areas near the shattered city of Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May after months of battles.
Persons:
Hanna Maliar, Serhiy Cherevatyi, Kyrylo, Cherevatyi, Maliar, Ron Popeski, Alex Richardson, Rosalba O'Brien
Organizations:
Russian, Deputy, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
Ukraine's Kupiansk, Kupiansk, Lyman, Ukraine, Kharkiv, Afghanistan, Russian, Luhansk, Donetsk, Bakhmut, Azov