Russia announced on Sunday the deaths of two of its military commanders near an entrance area to the city of Bakhmut, on Ukraine’s eastern front.

In a rare announcement of battlefield casualties, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Commanders Vyacheslav Makarov and Yevgeny Brovko died “heroically”.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also claimed it had attacked Ternopil (west) and Petropavlivka (central-east) in Ukraine, sites that housed Western weapons supplied to Kiev to repel Moscow’s offensive.

The Russian forces “attacked with high-precision and long-range air and naval weapons deployed by the Ukrainian forces”, the ministry said in a statement.

“Depositories for ammunition, weapons and military equipment received from Western countries” were also attacked, he said, adding that “all” targets were hit.

Russia praised the heroism of its commanders

Makarov, commander of the 14th motorized rifle brigade, repelled “two enemy attacks” with his men before he was “seriously injured and died during his evacuation from the battlefield,” ministry spokesman Igor Konachenkov said.

Brovko, deputy commander of the army corps “entrusted with military-political work”, he died “after sustaining several shrapnel wounds” on the Ukrainian front.

The Russian military’s unusual communications reflect the escalation of fighting in recent days, as Moscow claims to be repelling attacks along 95 kilometers of the eastern front.

Bakhmut, the epicenter of fighting in Donbas, and its surroundings are still ravaged by fighting.

This is reported by the Russian Ministry. “During the last day the enemy has made massive attempts to break through the defenses of our troops, north and south” of Bakhmut.

It also celebrated its attack on Ternopil (west) and Petropavlivka (central-east) on Sunday, sites that housed Western weapons that Russia said had been delivered to Kiev.

The regional authorities indicated that two people were injured in this Russian attack in “warehouses of commercial companies and a religious organization”.