During a special operation to protect Donbass, four Ukrainian Bayraktar drones and a combat helicopter were shot down. The official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said this on Thursday, February 24.
"A combat helicopter and four Bayraktar TB-2 attack unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down," RT quotes Konashenkov.
Earlier in the day, the official representative of the military department said that the Russian armed forces had disabled 74 ground objects of the military infrastructure of Ukraine during a special operation to protect Donbass, the NSN reports.
It also became known that Ukrainian border guards are leaving their units, refusing to participate in hostilities. According to the FSB of the Russian Federation, 26 servicemen of the State Border Service of Ukraine have already arrived at the Troebortnoye checkpoint on the territory of the Russian Federation, the 360 TV channel reports. Another 16 - to the Crimean checkpoint "Dzhankoy".
On the morning of February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his special televised address that a special operation would be carried out in Donbass to protect civilians.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that this operation is an attempt to prevent a global war. She stressed that a bloody war with civilian casualties had been waged in Donbass for eight years. Zakharova also said that the war was fought on various fronts, including sanctions and information.
After that, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that Kiev was severing diplomatic relations with Moscow and expelling its diplomats from the embassy.
On February 21, the Russian leader signed decrees recognizing the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics (LPR and DPR). Also, the President of the Russian Federation and the heads of both republics Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance. The documents were ratified the next day by both the republics themselves and the Russian State Duma.
The situation in Donbass escalated on February 17. The DPR and LPR reported intense shelling by Ukrainian security forces, including from heavy weapons. The republics announced a general mobilization and evacuation of civilians to the territory of Russia.
Since 2014, the Kiev authorities have been conducting a military operation against the residents of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kiev blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the conflict.
