Heavy fighting continues in the Bakhmut, Lyman, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka areas in the Donetsk region, the General Staff of Ukraine’s military reported on July 5, adding that there had been 40 combat clashes in the area during the previous 24 hours.
"Our soldiers continue to conduct offensive actions south and north of the city of Bakhmut, entrenching themselves at the achieved boundaries,” the military said in its latest update.
It added that more than 15 settlements, including Vasyukivka, Markove, Bohdanivka, and Khromov, came under shelling by Russian artillery.
The military also said that the Russian Army has intensified reconnaissance and sabotage activities in the border areas near the town of Siversky.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod governors said the regions came under fire from Ukrainian forces across the border in the early hours of July 5, adding that no casualties were reported.
"The town of Valuyki is under fire from Ukraine's armed forces," Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram early on July 5.
"Air-defense system worked, but there is destruction on the ground," Gladkov added.
In a separate statement, Roman Starovoyt, the governor of the Kursk region, north of Belgorod and also bordering Ukraine, said that a school and a private house were damaged when the village of Tyotkino came fire.
Ukraine's military said late on July 4 that it had destroyed a formation of Russian forces in Makiyivka in the Donetsk region while Russian-installed representatives accused Kyiv of targeting a hospital, adding that one civilian died and 36 were injured as the result of the attacks.
"As a result of the effective fire impact of the units of the defense forces, another formation of Russian terrorists in the temporarily occupied Makiyivka ceased to exist," Ukraine's military said in a statement issued late on July 4.
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The Russian-installed leader of Ukraine's Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said Ukrainian forces had launched "fierce attacks" on residential areas and a hospital complex in Makiyivka.
RFE/RL cannot confirm claims of battlefield developments by either side in areas of heavy fighting.
Earlier on July 4, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said his country’s counteroffensive against Russian forces has been "particularly fruitful" in the last few days.
"At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine's Defense Forces are fulfilling the number one task -- the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defense forces of the Russian Army," Danilov said on Twitter.
