Servicemen of the People's Militia of the DPR. Archival photoDONETSK, May 28. The People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic reported that five DPR servicemen were killed in a day, another 23 were injured.»We regret to inform you that over the past day in the struggle for independence, five defenders of the Donetsk People republics died in the line of military duty and 23 were injured,» the ministry said in a Telegram channel statement. 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.
