Zelenskiy: Ukrainian forces repel offensive in Donetsk region

(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had repelled a “fierce offensive” by Russian troops in the eastern Donetsk region.

Zelenskiy said a military unit from Chop in western Ukraine had undertaken the action, but did not say where the clash had occurred.

“Today they stopped the fierce offensive actions of the enemy,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. “The Russian attack was repelled.”

The president also said Ukraine’s “exchange fund” had been replenished, meaning Russian servicemen had been taken prisoner. The fiercest fighting in Donetsk region has been around the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Elaine Monaghan)