Destroyed residential building in the city of Shchastya in the Luhansk People's Republic. Archival photoSCHASTIE (LPR) April 13Mine clearance of the thermal power plant in Shchastya in the LPR is now at the final stage, head of the republic Leonid Pasechnik told reporters. , but for the past two weeks it has been cleared of mines, including with the participation of sappers from Russia.The head of the LPR visited the liberated city of Shchastye «Today, the demining of this thermal power plant is at the final stage,» Pasechnik said, adding that it is one of the most important tasks of the authorities of the republic, it is also important to put it into operation (he, in turn, will allow to launch in full the work of the Alchevsk Metallurgical and Stakhanovskiy Metallurgical Combines). «The restoration and launch of the Lugansk thermal power plant is a very important and significant moment for us,» he stressed, adding that in 2017 the efforts of the Kyiv authorities were aimed at destroying the economy of the region and at to leave the inhabitants of the LPR without work, but now the economy is recovering. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24th. 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.» bloody crimes against civilians» of Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, on March 25, they completed the main tasks of the first stage — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on April 13, since the beginning of the operation, 89% of tanks and other armored vehicles of Ukraine have been destroyed (2169 out of 2416 tanks that were in the Ukrainian troops on February 24), 85% of the military aircraft (130 out of 152), 69% of the helicopter fleet (103 out of 149) and so on. According to the head of the department, Sergei Shoigu, the Air Force and Air Defense of Ukraine «are practically destroyed,» and the Navy «ceased to exist.» During the operation, more than 1.3 thousand Russian soldiers were killed, more than 3.8 thousand were injured, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on March 25. Among the Ukrainian side, according to the Russian department, the losses are many times higher: about 14,000 killed and about 16,000 wounded. deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Trekhizbenka in the LPR
