Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine estimated the number of captured Ukrainian soldiers

Nine Ukrainian reservists who laid down their arms and surrendered without resistance in a suburb of Severodonetsk. File photoMOSCOW, June 23About 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers were taken prisoner, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said.

"This is an ongoing process – when we write letters to the ICRC, they turn to Russia and Russia confirms in parts… So, today we have about 2 thousand of our prisoners of war confirmed in Russian captivity,” she said on the air of the TV channel “Ukraine 24” .

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24th. 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 Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, as of March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage – they have significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.