Russia confirms completion of key phase of first phase operation in Ukraine | News

On Friday, the Russian Armed Forces announced that it had completed the first phase of a special military operation to protect Donbass. Sergei Rutskoy, Chairman of the Directorate General Operations of the Russian Public Service.

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The officer promised during a presentation on the action The “main tasks of the first phase”, which began on February 24 in Ukraine, have been completed.

“The combat capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces have been significantly reduced, allowing us to once again focus on our key efforts in achieving the main goal – the liberation of the Donbass,” Rutskoy said.

He added that “the Ukrainian air force and air defense system have been almost completely destroyed”, while the naval forces responding to kyiv have been neutralized.

Rudskói said the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv (capital), Kharkov, Chernigiv, Sumy and Mykolaiv were besieged, but most of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions were under Russian troops’ control.

The official described that in the balance of special military operations, about 30,000 Ukrainian troops were killed, more than 14,000 soldiers were killed and about 16,000 wounded. Of the Russian casualties, 1,351 were killed and 3,825 were injured.

Russia will continue to operate until the missions are completed

For his part, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov stressed that his country’s armed forces would continue special military operations until all work was completed, and that it was being carried out “strictly in accordance with the approved plan.”

The official promised that Russia’s action would frustrate the attacks by Ukrainian groups that self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

“It has been able to save tens of thousands of civilians in the Donbass, which for the past eight years has been systematically fired upon by large-scale artillery and rockets, sheltering the elderly, women and children. In the basement, ”the speaker explained.

He added that since last February, kyiv forces have multiplied artillery fire on the Donbass, using large-scale prohibited weapons.

Konashenkov reiterated that the Ministry of Defense would continue to provide details on the progress of the special operation, in the midst of the “Iron Curtain of Western boycott of information against Russia”.