MOSCOW, Aug. 8 -- Along the Zaporozhye front, where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been engaged in grinding contact since the early months of the Russian operation in Ukraine, Russia's Defense Ministry reported on Saturday that the Vostok Group of Forces advanced further into Ukrainian defensive positions and defeated Ukrainian armed formations across several settlements in the region - claiming losses of more than 350 Ukrainian troops in a single twenty-four-hour period.

The ministry said Vostok units engaged the manpower and hardware of one assault brigade, three airborne assault brigades, two assault regiments, and a marine brigade over the course of the day, with the enemy also losing four armored combat vehicles and nine motor ve...