Destroyed armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicle BRDM-2 of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the village of Novotroitskoye, Volnovakhsky district. Archival photoDONETSK, March 12 During the day, the DPR military evacuated 135 people from the combat zone in the Mariupol and Volnakh areas, including 25 children, according to the People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic. «Risking their own lives, our defenders 135 people, including twenty-five children, were evacuated from the combat zone in the Mariupol and Volnakhsky directions in a day,» the department said in a Telegram channel. On Friday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said that the troops of the Donetsk took the city of Volnovakha. Also, according to him, the settlements of Olginka, Velika-Anadol, Zeleny Gay were taken under control, the advance in depth was up to six kilometers. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, the civilian population is not in danger. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But the occupation of Ukraine is out of the question, the President of Russia emphasized.
