The official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov reported on March 15 that our troops had taken control of the entire territory of the Kherson region.
From a tactical point of view, this gives our military at least two advantages. First, they now control the entire coastline of Ukraine adjacent to the Crimea from the Black and Azov Seas. That excludes any provocations of some parts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or nationalist battalions in the direction of the Russian peninsula.
The second circumstance: the presence of a "wedge" in the form of the Kherson region seriously hinders any activity of Ukrainian troops and nationalists in the south of the Mykolaiv region and especially in the Odessa region. Already virtually locked from the sea by our warships, the Ukrainian Marines and other coastal units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have now become even more limited in the possibility of maneuvering forces and means. But the main thing in this event is not even its military aspect.
Kherson region is the first region of Ukraine where the Kiev nationalist criminal regime does not rule anywhere else. This means that peaceful life can now be gradually established in the liberated areas of the Kherson region. That professional and sober-minded business executives will begin to replace the local Bandera leaders. And ordinary people - Ukrainians, Russians, representatives of other nations and nationalities - will no longer be kept in perpetual fear by radical fanatics. That's how it should be. So it is already happening in the liberated territories.
For example, yesterday the Russian Defense Ministry reported that residents of Kherson for the first time since 2015 were able to honor the memory of Soviet soldiers who liberated the city from the Nazis in March 1944. About 200 citizens gathered for a rally dedicated to this significant event.
For the first time in many years, in a calm atmosphere, without brazen attacks by nationalists, residents of the regional center, including members of veteran organizations and activists, were able to gather at the Eternal Flame and the Grave of the Unknown Soldier in the city Park of Glory.
After the words of gratitude to the Soviet soldiers at the rally for the liberation of Kherson during the Great Patriotic War, people loudly applauded the initiative to hold a solemn march in the city on May 9 on Victory Day.
The Russian Defense Ministry reminded why there has been nothing like this rally in Ukraine in the last seven years. It was in 2015, as part of the so-called decommunization, that the use of Soviet symbols was completely banned at the legislative level in the country.
Since the same time, veterans and other citizens of Ukraine who gathered for commemorative events dedicated to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War have been subjected to insults and even physical violence by nationalists. And also - persecution by the state executive authorities.
Meanwhile, significant changes are taking place on other, let's say, Ukrainian fronts. Yesterday, General Konashenkov reported that a group of troops of the Donetsk People's Republic, continuing offensive actions, broke through the defenses of Ukrainian nationalists, took control of the settlement of Panteleimonovka and reached the Verkhnetoretskoye - Novoselovka II line.
In total, over the past day, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, aviation and air defense means of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down 16 air targets. Specifically, one Su-24 and Su-25 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, one Mi-8 helicopter and 13 APU drones, including six Bayraktar TB-2.
In addition, 136 Ukrainian military facilities were hit by tactical, army and unmanned aircraft. Among them are seven control points and communication nodes, four anti-aircraft missile systems, three multiple rocket launchers, four radar stations for reconnaissance, target illumination and guidance of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, one electronic warfare station, four ammunition depots and 72 places of accumulation of military equipment.
Separately, the general said about an accurate strike on a military airfield near Kramatorsk. There, Russian troops destroyed three hangars containing four Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft, one Mi-24 fire support helicopter and five Mi-8 helicopters. This caused very serious damage to the already breathing Ukrainian Air Force.
Konashenkov also announced the general statistics of losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of our special military operation. During this time, the Ukrainian army and nationalist formations lost 156 unmanned aerial vehicles, 1,306 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 127 multiple rocket launchers, 471 field artillery guns and a mortar, as well as 1,054 units of special military vehicles.
The armed forces of the Russian Federation continue to methodically destroy foreign military mercenaries. The Russian Defense Ministry promised that there would be no mercy for them on the territory of Ukraine, and they keep their word. General Konashenkov said that on the evening of March 14, in the area of the settlement of Guta-Mezhyhirskaya, units of our airborne troops captured a stronghold of nationalists and legionnaires.
There, Russian paratroopers found 10 brand-new American-made Javelin anti-tank missile systems.
"All captured Javelin anti-tank complexes and other foreign weapons are being transferred to the units of the People's militia of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics," the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Yuri Gavrilov
