Russian serviceman in the LPRKREMENNAYA (LPR), Apr 23Residents of the liberated city of Kremennaya said that they were waiting for servicemen of the Luhansk People's Republic and the Russian Federation. Earlier on Thursday, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that the forces of the RF Armed Forces and the People's Militia of the LPR had taken full control of the city of Kremennaya, which the nationalists had turned into a fortified area , it was possible to avoid serious destruction of urban infrastructure and residential buildings. Kremennaya is a strategically important city in the war zone in the Donbass. Control over Kremennaya will allow you to enter the city of Rubizhnoye, for which fighting is still going on, from the rear positions of the enemy. «Guys, when they drove up in tanks, I immediately saw that they were ours, I say, they arrived … Yesterday I went to see what was happening, with the guys I sat near the bombed-out restaurant, talked to them, talked to them. I was going back, the guy came out to me and gave me two cans of stew … Ours arrived. Are we really going to live at home, and not with these, «said local resident Andrey. He explained that local residents were afraid of Ukrainian security forces in the city, as they «did what they wanted,» including «robbed people.» A resident of the city, Olga, said that when departing, the Ukrainian security forces fired at the houses of civilians. “Yesterday we were walking home with my daughter, yours shot down a rocket above us, Thank God! I have a prayer, I prayed that they would come soon,» a local resident 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 Kyiv 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.
