A released video purportedly shows the moment pro-Russian troops shelled hidden Ukrainian positions, inflicting "heavy losses."
The People's Militia of the the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) claim they inflicted heavy losses on the Ukrainian forces with the support of high-tech drones.
The DPR militia said on May 26: "Ukrainian nationalists suffer losses in the area of Novomikhailovsky.
"Soldiers of the People's Militia of the DPR, with the support of modern UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], conduct accurate mortar fire on Ukrainian nationalists. As a result, the enemy suffered heavy losses."
In other developments, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces have attacked more than 40 towns in the eastern Donbas region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Donbas could be left uninhabited by the invasion and accused Russia of carrying out a genocide in the region.
The city of Sievierodonetsk is currently suffering an onslaught of Russian shelling and there are reports of three explosions overnight in the city of Dnipro.
The death toll from shelling Thursday in Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv has now reached nine people, including a baby.
Zelensky said late Thursday that lives are lost in Ukraine every moment the West delays putting more pressure on Russia.
His foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine would not be able to counter the Russian offensive without more heavy weapons.
U.S. officials said the Biden administration was considering supplying Ukraine with the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.
The maximum firing range of the light multiple rocket launcher developed in the late 1990s for the United States Army is 186 miles.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported earlier Friday that from February 24 to May 27, Russia had lost about 29,750 troops in addition to 1,322 tanks, 3,246 armored fighting vehicles, 623 artillery systems, 201 multiple launch rocket systems, 93 air defense systems, 206 warplanes, 170 helicopters, 503 unmanned aerial vehicles, 115 cruise missiles, 13 warships, 2,226 military vehicles and fuel tankers, and 48 units of special equipment.
While the Russian Ministry of Defense reported earlier Friday that over the same period, Ukraine had lost 179 warplanes, 127 helicopters, 1,019 unmanned aerial vehicles, 323 air defense systems, 3,266 tanks and armored fighting vehicles, 433 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,682 artillery systems, and 3,190 military vehicles.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what Russian President Vladimir Putin initially called a "special military operation" to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine.
The Kremlin is still calling it a "special military operation" but now says the goal is to "protect Donbass."
May 27 marks the 93rd day of the invasion.
This story was provided to Newsweek by Zenger News.
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