Servicemen of the People's Militia of the DPR in MariupolDONETSK, 16 Apr. The People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic stated that that in clashes with its units, 64 Ukrainian nationalists and equipment were destroyed in a day. «Over the past day, our servicemen destroyed 64 Ukrainian nationalists, two tanks, one firing position of a ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun, two armored vehicles and one cargo vehicle. Captured two infantry fighting vehicles, a field artillery depot and two cargo vehicles,» the message reads. launched a military operation in Ukraine on 24 February. 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 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.
