Surrendered soldiers of the Ukrainian army in Luhansk. File photoLUHANSK, April 14The Ukrainian media either didn’t show the conflict in Donbass or called it frozen, captive soldiers of the National Guard in the Luhansk People’s Republic told reporters. everything is peaceful,” said a captive National Guard named Alexei. According to another prisoner, Viktor, also a member of the National Guard, the conflict was called “frozen”, and emphasis was also placed on negotiating and observing the Minsk agreements. Otherwise, the conflict in Donbass was not widely covered. In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the DPR and LPR, which declared independence after the coup in Kyiv in February 2014. The issue of resolving the situation in Donbass has been discussed for 8 years, including during the meetings of the contact group in Minsk. However, even after the ceasefire agreements, skirmishes continued, and the DPR reported shelling of residential areas by Ukrainian heavy artillery. Subsequently, Russia recognized the independence of the DPR and LPR, and on February 24 launched a special military operation in Ukraine.»Even foreigners are taken prisoner»: what is happening in the port of MariupolPresident Vladimir Putin called it the goal of «protecting 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 and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — 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 14, 90% of tanks and other armored vehicles of Ukraine (2179 out of 2416 tanks that were in the Ukrainian troops on February 24), 86% of the military aircraft (131 out of 152), 69% of the helicopter fleet (104 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».
