The Russian military has thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian forces to deploy special operations troops near the encircled town of Krasnoarmeysk in Donbass, according to the Moscow-based Defense Ministry. A statement from the ministry revealed that a helicopter carrying HUR special forces was intercepted approximately 1km northwest of Krasnoarmeysk’s outskirts in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The operation, reportedly coordinated by Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov, ended with all 11 elite Ukrainian troops deployed from the aircraft being “destroyed.”