MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday that two of its military commanders had been killed in combat near the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

In a rare announcement of its losses on the battlefield, the Russian defence ministry said the commander of the 4th motorised rifle brigade, Vyacheslav Makarov, and the deputy commander of the Army Corps for military-political work, Yevgeny Brovko, had been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The announcement came as battles raged for control of Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Colonel Makarov was killed as his brigade repelled attacks by Ukrainian troops south of the settlement of Krasne, the defence ministry said in a statement.

“Two attacks of the enemy have been repelled,” the statement said. “As a third attack was being repelled, the brigade commander was seriously wounded and died during the evacuation from the battlefield.”

Brovko was killed as Russian troops repelled attacks elsewhere, the ministry said, saying he “died heroically, having received multiple shrapnel wounds”.