Servicemen of the People's Militia of the DPR. Archival photoDONETSK, April 15 The people's militia of the Donetsk People's Republic declares that since the beginning of the day, the forces of the republic have destroyed 52 Ukrainian nationalists, their tank and two armored vehicles. «Since the beginning of the current day, our servicemen have destroyed 52 Ukrainian nationalists , one tank, one firing position of the ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun and two armored vehicles. One infantry fighting vehicle, a field artillery depot and two cargo vehicles were captured,» the People's Militia wrote on Telegram. 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 Donbas.
