This is the moment pro-Russian LPR fighters load up a battery of howitzers and fire missiles at a Ukrainian base.

The People’s Militia of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) took journalists to the front line outside the village of Borovsky to film the strike against Ukrainian resistance fighters.

The pro-Russian unit claimed they destroyed an entire fortified area consisting of concentrated manpower and military equipment.

The militia said they used mortars and tank fire to destroy the Ukrainian base after first giving the enemy the option to withdraw or surrender.

One LPR fighter told reporters: “The situation has changed a lot. The enemy is not so active anymore. Now, our artillery and tank units are working very well together.”

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 98th day of the campaign.

From 24th February to 1st June, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 30,700 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,361 tanks, 3,343 armoured fighting vehicles, 659 artillery systems, 207 multiple launch rocket systems, 94 anti-aircraft systems, 208 warplanes, 175 helicopters, 2,290 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 519 unmanned aerial vehicles, 49 units of special equipment, and 120 cruise missiles.

In recent news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russian strikes on a nitric acid tank in the besieged eastern city of Sievierodonetsk “madness”.

Residents of Sievierodonetsk have been warned to remain in bomb shelters and to prepare masks to protect against toxic fumes.

Analysts say up to 70 per cent of the city is now controlled by Russian forces, with almost all critical infrastructure and housing destroyed.

United States President Joe Biden said he will send Kyiv more advanced rocket systems that will help to strike enemy forces from a longer distance.

These rocket systems have double the range of the rocket systems used by Russian forces and are much more accurate.

And European Union leaders reached an agreement to ban 90 per cent of oil imports from Russia, but they remain undecided on gas imports.

Despite setbacks in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian troops have made advances in Kherson in the south and around Kharkiv in the north-east.