One of the Bayraktar TB-2 drones shot down in the Kiev regionMOSCOW, Apr 16 The Russian Armed Forces destroyed 133 aircraft and 458 drones during a special operation in Ukraine, Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said on Saturday. , 2,246 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 252 multiple rocket launchers, 981 field artillery pieces and mortars, as well as 2,146 units of special military vehicles,» Konashenkov 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 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.
