A fighter of the Akhmat special rapid reaction unit in Mariupol. File photoDONETSK, April 7 The forces of the Donetsk People's Republic liberated and established full control over 160 settlements, the headquarters of the territorial defense of the DPR said. with the fire support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, it liberated and established full control over 160 settlements, including Novogrigorovka (Volodarsky district), Pannovka, Suzhenka, Lugovoe, Sadovoye, Fedorovka, Kalchinovka, Nazarovka, Ukrainka, Respublika, Ksenovka, Novoromanovka, Sergeevka, Starchenkovo, Peremoga, Priazovskoye, Shevchenko (Pershotravnevy district), Ilyichovskoye, Rybatskoye, Chervonoe, Shirokaya Balka,» the headquarters wrote on its Telegram channel. Earlier, the headquarters reported 139 liberated settlements in the DPR. 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.
