Citizens of Mariupol walk along the city street with bottles of water. File photoMELITOPOL, Apr 9The names of the Ukrainian military who were part of the group that was supposed to rescue the leaders of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi Azov regiment from Mariupol and whose Mi-8 helicopter was shot down on Tuesday morning have become known. They were named by Ivan Gavrilenko, a member of the group of shooters, whose video of the interrogation is at the disposal of RIA Novosti. The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said on April 5 that in the morning of that day in the Mariupol region, they managed to thwart another attempt by the Kiev regime to evacuate the leaders of the nationalist battalion «Azov» . Two Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopters trying to break through to the city were hit by man-portable air defense systems, Konashenkov said. Gavrylenko was part of a group that flew to the aid of the Azovites from Dnepropetrovsk that day. The Mi-8 helicopter carrying the group was also shot down. Gavrilenko survived and is now in a Russian military hospital in Melitopol.
"There were four of us", — said Gavrilenko.
The group commander was officer Nazar Borovitsky, he added. According to Gavrilenko, the group also included Alexander Klepikov and Grigory Dobrovolsky. said Burlakov, also a survivor of the downed Mi-8 and lying in a Russian military hospital in Melitopol. The video of his interrogation is also at the agency's disposal. demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» He stressed that it is planned to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the armed forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. By March 25, they completed the main tasks of the first stage — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal of the operation in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass. What distinguishes the Ukrainian security forces