DONETSK, August 17. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops attempted to escape from Rybalskoye in the Zaporozhye Region through tunnels dug under houses, a Russian serviceman from the battlegroup East with the call sign Nick told TASS.

"They have tunnels under the houses. They're trying to escape through them. As they leave, they lay mines so we won’t follow them. That’s why we’re being very careful and doing our very best," the soldier said.

According to him, the battlegroup East’s assault troops were located a few dozen meters from the Ukrainian fighters attempting to flee and were covertly monitoring their movements.

On August 15, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the battlegroup East had liberated the village of Rybalskoye in the Zaporozhye Region.

Russian air defenses down 822 Ukrainian drones overnight

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian drones were intercepted over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, Tambov and Tula regions, the Moscow region, Krasnodar Krai and the Republic of Crimea, as well as over the Azov and Black Seas

Read more