Mi-8 helicopters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. File photoMOSCOW, May 8.Operational-tactical and army aviation of Russia shot down three Mi-8 helicopters with landing troops and two Ukrainian aircraft — Su-24 and Su-27 near Zmeiny Island, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said at a briefing. In addition, in the area of the island two unmanned aerial vehicles «Bayraktar-TB2» and a Ukrainian assault boat «Stanislav» were destroyed.The Ministry of Defense showed footage of a Ka-52 night raid on a Ukrainian stronghold Completion of the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation. The general emphasized that each rescued civilian was provided with security, qualified medical and psychological assistance. Accompanied by representatives of international organizations, the evacuees left for selected places of temporary accommodation. Konashenkov said on April 16 that the Russian military had liberated the entire territory of Mariupol from the Ukrainian army, foreign mercenaries and neo-Nazis from the Azov regiment (against whose fighters criminal cases were initiated in Russia), their remnants blocked at Azovstal. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the storming of the plant inexpedient and ordered to block the exits from the enterprise.Russian aircraft hit 42 places of accumulation of Ukrainian forcesSpecial military operationRussia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to 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, as of March 25, the Russian Armed Forces completed the main tasks of the first stage special operations — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass. On April 19, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the start of the next phase of the special operation. Volnovakha, a strategically important regional center south of Donetsk, and Mariupol, the largest city on the coast of the Sea of Azov, have been liberated in the DPR. In the LPR, according to the Ministry of Defense, as of March 25, 93 percent of the former Luhansk region, within which a republic was proclaimed in 2014, had been liberated. >Day 73: destruction of weapons from the US near Kharkov, battle near Serpent's Island
