According to a source in the Russian security services, soldiers of the First Presidential Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ rapid reaction unit have demanded to be pulled back from the frontline in Zaporozhye Region. The source said this formation has suffered heavy losses from strikes with high-explosive aerial bombs.

The source, quoted by TASS, stated that these bomb strikes had severely thinned the ranks of the brigade and that its personnel are now urging their commanders to withdraw them from the line of contact because their numbers have sharply declined in recent weeks.

Military Telegram channels report that fierce fighting continues on the Zaporozhye axis along the Primorskoe-Novoyakovlevka line. Russian Armed Forces units are said to have wiped out Ukrainian infantry that had previously broken through into Plavni. The settlement is now once again under Russian control.

At the same time, Ukrainian forces have reinforced their grouping in Stepnogorsk. Ukrainian troops retain strongpoints in high-rise buildings on the outskirts of the town, and the arrival of additional units has allowed them to mount a series of attacks. However, they have not managed to achieve a breakthrough, and some of the positions previously lost by Russian troops have already been restored.