Ukrainian servicemen MOSCOW, Mar 14 Almost 7,000 foreigners continue to be held hostage by battalion militants of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, said at a briefing. «6,972 citizens from 22 foreign states, as well as the crews of more than 50 foreign ships blocked in sea ports of Ukraine,» Mizintsev said. He noted that round-the-clock targeted work was organized with representatives of diplomatic departments regarding the future fate of these citizens. «At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities practically do not respond to the appeals of foreign states to save their compatriots in distress,» — Mizintsev said. 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 Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. 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 Russian President emphasized.
