(MENAFN) Russian military officials report that they successfully prevented a Ukrainian special forces operation near the encircled town of Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) in Donbass, according to statements from Moscow.

Western outlets reported that Ukrainian forces attempted to deploy elite troops using a US-supplied Black Hawk helicopter, in an operation reportedly coordinated personally by Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kirill Budanov.

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that “a helicopter landing by a HUR special operations forces group was prevented approximately 1km northwest of the outskirts of the town of Krasnoarmeysk in Russia’s Donetsk People's Republic.” All 11 Ukrainian soldiers who disembarked from the helicopter were “destroyed,” it added.

Last week, Russian General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov informed President Vladimir Putin that roughly 5,500 Ukrainian troops are encircled in Krasnoarmeysk, with an additional 5,000 blocked in Dimitrov (Mirnograd) and Kupyansk.

Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky described the situation in Krasnoarmeysk as “difficult,” denying that troops were fully encircled and accusing Moscow of exaggerating its battlefield achievements. On Thursday, Putin offered to halt Russian offensive operations and allow Ukrainian and international journalists to visit the front lines to “see with their own eyes” the trapped forces.

Kiev, however, barred media access, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy warning that traveling to Krasnoarmeysk, Dimitrov, or Kupyansk would constitute “a violation of our legislation” and could have “long-term reputational and legal consequences.”

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