Russia Claims To Seize Six Ukrainian Settlements, Accuses Nationalists Of Using 150 Residents As Human Shields In Mariupol

Ukrainian rescue workers in the rubble of a building hit by Russian troops. (Wikimedia Commons/DSNS.gov.ua/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - The Russian Defense Ministry said the Ukrainian nationalists used 150 civilians as human shields, succeeded in capturing new territory and destroying more than 2,300 military targets on the opposing side.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian nationalists in Mariupol used about 150 civilians as human shields, then opened fire from behind civilians.

Yesterday at around 17.00 Moscow time, on Pobedy Avenue in Mariupol, soldiers of the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) came into contact with an armed Ukrainian nationalist unit. The militants drove more than 150 civilians in front of them, hiding behind them as 'shields' humans'," said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, citing Sputnik News March 7.

Konashenkov further said that since the start of the special military operation, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 2,396 military facilities in Ukraine.

"In total, 2,396 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities were destroyed during the operation. Among them 82 control points and communication centers of the Ukrainian armed forces, 119 anti-aircraft missile systems S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa, to anti-aircraft missile systems Osa and 76 radar stations," Konashenkov said.

He further explained, including those that were successfully destroyed were 827 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 84 multiple launch rocket systems, 304 field artillery and mortar weapons, 603 units of special military vehicles, and 78 unmanned aerial vehicles.

"Last night, warplanes of the Russian Air Force and military air defense shot down three more Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets belonging to the Ukrainian Air Force in the Poltava region, one Su-25 in the Gostomel region, two Mi-24 helicopters in the Makarov region and eight vehicles. unmanned aerial vehicles, including including Bayraktar TB-2," he explained.

On the occasion Konashenkov also revealed that the Russian Armed Forces managed to control six more settlements in Ukraine.

"Today, starting at 10:00 Moscow time, a ceasefire has been declared and six humanitarian corridors have been opened: one from Kiev to Gomel; two from Mariupol to Zaporozhye and Rostov-on-Don; one from Kharkov to Belgorod; two from Sumy to Belgorod and to Poltava," Konashenkov said.

According to him, detailed information on the humanitarian corridor was brought to the Ukrainian side in advance, as well as to the special structures of the United Nations, the OSCE and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

He noted that during the opening of the humanitarian corridor, the Armed Forces would carry out 'continuous objective monitoring of the evacuation, using unmanned aerial vehicles'.