Servicemen of the People's Militia of the DPR in MariupolDONETSK, 17 Apr. The People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic reported that that the forces of the DPR destroyed 61 Ukrainian nationalists, one artillery mount and two armored personnel carriers in a day. «Over the past day, our servicemen destroyed 61 Ukrainian nationalists, one 122-mm self-propelled artillery mount 2S1 «Gvozdika», one infantry fighting vehicle, two armored personnel carriers and a truck, » — the message says in the Telegram channel of the People's Militia. In addition, according to the report, the DPR forces captured one tank and two infantry fighting vehicles. 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.
