The Battle Of Sentit Took Place In The Eastern Region, The Ukrainian Military Claimed The Killing Of 800 Russian Army

Ukrainian military illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Staft Staff. Adriana Diaz-Brown)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian officials reported heavy fighting in the eastern region on Thursday, as Kyiv forces tried to push Russian troops back, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to provide its troops with heavy tanks.

The Ukrainian military said Russia focused on attacks on the Bakhmut sector in the Donetsk region, but their attacks on the Avdivka and Kupiansk sectors were unsuccessful.

The Lugansk regional governor said Ukrainian forces retook the areas "step by step". But he added: "It didn't happen quickly," Reuters reported on January 5.

A senior US government official on Wednesday predicted a long road ahead, in a war that has now been raging for nearly 11 months.

"The fighting is still quite hot (at Donetsk) what we see in Bakhmut, we will see elsewhere ahead that there will be further fighting in the coming months," the official said in Washington.

Lugansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said he expects fighting to rise as temperatures drop and the ground freezes.

"So the opportunity to use heavy equipment will be open," he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his troops outside Russia's occupied Bakhmut caused heavy losses to their enemies, with Moscow building troops in the region.

In his evening video address, President Zelensky also urged Western allies to provide tanks and heavy weapons for his forces to fight Russian troops, which invaded his country last February.

The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that an estimated 800 Russian troops had been killed in recent days, mostly in fighting on the Donetsk region.

However, that figure - which means the loss of many lives in one day - cannot be confirmed independently.

The Ukrainian military also said one Russian plane, a helicopter and three tanks had been destroyed over the past few days.

Russian airstrikes, missiles, and rockets in the Bakhmut were largely destroyed and two other cities in Donetsk - Kostitynivka and Kurakhove - have caused unspecified civilian casualties, he said.

Meanwhile, Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls special military operations in Ukraine. Reuters was unable to independently verify battlefield accounts.