Ukrainian units attempted to break out of an encircled area near Nefedovka in the Kharkov Region using armored vehicles, according to an unnamed representative of Russian security agencies cited by the media.

The source told RIA Novosti that Ukrainian forces had made another attempt to breach the encirclement. According to the same account, Russian troops stopped the attack, destroying a Roshel Senator armored vehicle and the combat group accompanying it.

The source also claimed that Ukrainian losses on the Kharkov sector exceeded 70 servicemen over the past 24 hours.

On September 7, the Russian Defense Ministry said around 1,700 Ukrainian troops were encircled in northern Kharkov Region. According to the ministry, since the beginning of the month Ukrainian forces had lost up to 490 servicemen, 13 armored combat vehicles, eight pickup trucks, 13 quad bikes and 21 unmanned ground vehicles in the area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said that eliminating the Ukrainian force described by Moscow as encircled near Kharkov would allow the line of contact to be pushed at least 20 kilometers farther away from the border areas of the Belgorod Region.