Serviceman of the People's Militia of the DPR. Archival photoDONETSK, June 9 The people's militia of the Donetsk People's Republic reports that four soldiers were killed in the DPR over the past day, seven more were injured.»We regret to inform you that over the past day in the struggle for independence four defenders of the Donetsk People's Republic were killed in the line of military duty and seven were injured,» the People's Militia wrote on its Telegram channel. 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.
