Ukrainian border guards repel massive Russian tank breakthrough attempt near Dobropillia

Ukraine's State Border Guard Service said Russian forces had been amassing equipment for an offensive operation for an extended period. Border guards said they had not seen a breakthrough attempt of this scale in their area of responsibility for a long time.

Drone operators from the Phoenix unit destroyed nine Russian tanks, two armored vehicles and three Grad multiple-launch rocket systems that were intended to provide fire support for the offensive. Several dozen Russian troops were also killed.

"We haven't seen this much action in a long time. Still, all that hardware ended up burned out in the fields and along the tree lines of Donetsk Oblast," the State Border Guard Service said.

On July 23, a Ukrainian serviceman with the call sign Muchnoi said Russian forces continued to expand their area of penetration east of Hannivka in the Dobropillia sector and had reached the settlement's eastern outskirts. He said the development indicated that Russian pressure was continuing to intensify in that part of the front.