The Ukrainian Armed Forces' servicemen repelled an attempt to drive them away from their positions in the Svitlodarsk arc area (passes across the Donetsk and Luhansk regions) in a two-hour battle on Sunday, the Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) headquarters in Kyiv said.

Since 5.50 a.m. in the Svitlodarsk arc area, after the extensive preparation fire involving large-caliber artillery weapons and mortars, the adversary sought to push out "our vanguard units from the held positions," the headquarters said in a statement on its official Facebook page.

The militants "has lost nearly 20 killed and up to 30 injured," Kyiv said.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have also sustained some losses: five servicemen killed, six - injured (four lightly injured, two have got moderately severe injuries), the headquarters said.