On the eve of the battle for Donbass, Russia strikes precision weapons at air defense systems and other military facilities of Ukraine
The Russian Armed Forces continue to strike military targets in Ukraine. As reported on Sunday in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, cruise missiles hit the headquarters and location of the nationalist battalion "Dnepr". In addition, long-range S-300 systems were destroyed in the Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions. Experts note that Kiev has relied on a forceful way to resolve the conflict and is pulling all remaining forces to the Donbass.
Before the storm
On April 10, the Russian Defense Ministry announced major successes in the fight against the remnants of Ukraine's air defense. High-precision air-launched missiles destroyed the long-range S-300 AFU systems located at Starobogdanovka in the Mykolaiv region and at the Chuguev military airfield in Kharkiv.
— On the night of April 10, sea—based cruise missiles destroyed the headquarters and the base of the nationalist battalion "Dnepr", where a replenishment of foreign mercenaries arrived the other day, - said the official representative of the Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov.
According to him, the operational and tactical aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 86 military facilities. Among them are two control points, two ammunition depots, three fuel depots, three MLRS installations, as well as 49 strong points and areas of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment.Air defense systems managed to shoot down eight Ukrainian drones.
In total, 127 aircraft, 98 helicopters, 234 S-300, Buk-M1, Osa AKM anti-aircraft missile systems, 436 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,052 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 232 multiple rocket launchers, 894 field artillery and mortar guns have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation, as well as 1975 units of special military vehicles, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported.
Destroyed positions of the S-300 SAM division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Image Source: Photo: TASS/Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Kiev is now betting on a forceful, not a diplomatic way to resolve the conflict, military expert Vladislav Shurygin believes. The Ukrainian authorities hope, with Western help, to tighten it with weapons and, if not to win, then at least to draw it – to prevent the DPR and LPR from entering the administrative borders of the former Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
— In Ukraine, it is not for nothing that they started talking about the fact that the battle for Donbass will resemble the Second World War in scope, — the expert told Izvestia. — There is still hope that even Mariupol will be able to hold, and not only Kramatorsk and Lisichansk. The enemy is gradually pulling up its reserves to the Donbass from the depths of the country, setting up minefields in the directions of a potential offensive in order to slow down the advance of allied equipment. Our military will not have an easy walk. But the army has everything it needs to crack such a defense.
According to the expert, the best way to force Kiev to real peace negotiations is to inflict a heavy military defeat on it, surround and defeat the most combat–ready troops stationed there, artillery, "Dots-U" and armored vehicles in the Donbas.
– The arrival of an increasing number of Russian equipment in the potential offensive zone is already noticeable. In the northern sector of the front, in the area of Izyum, in addition to the paratroopers, Kantemirovtsy have already been noted. The troops released in Mariupol will be transferred to Yuzhny. There, the militants were driven into the territory of the industrial zone, where they are steadily grinding," Vladislav Shurygin said.
Humanitarian situation
Every day from ten in the morning Moscow time, the Russian side opens humanitarian corridors in the Kharkiv and Mariupol directions, said the head of the National Defense Control Center, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev. According to him, over the past day, 18,668 people, including 2,910 children, were evacuated to Russia from Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics and dangerous regions of Ukraine without the participation of the Ukrainian authorities. A total of 723,102 people have been evacuated since the beginning of the military operation, of which 138,063 are children.
The Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, in cooperation with federal agencies, continues to record the facts of the inhumane attitude of the Kiev authorities to civilians, the general said. In particular, in Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk People's Republic, militants equipped firing positions and placed heavy weapons in the buildings of two schools, a city hospital and residential buildings
The Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response, in cooperation with the authorized federal executive authorities, continues to carefully record the incessant egregious episodes of the inhumane attitude of the Kiev authorities to civilians.
Humanitarian corridor in Mariupol
Image Source: Photo: TASS/Tereshchenko Mikhail
Here are some of these facts in a day:
- In Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk People's Republic, nationalists equipped firing positions and placed heavy weapons in the buildings of schools No. 2 and 15, the city hospital and residential buildings located along Yemelyanov Street;
- In Lysychansk of the Luhansk People's Republic, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine equipped a strong point in the building of the pedagogical college, armored vehicles and anti-aircraft installations were also placed there.
— In addition, official Kiev, with the support of a number of countries of the collective West, continues to prepare monstrous and ruthless actions with the mass destruction of civilians in the Luhansk People's Republic in order to further accuse the Armed Forces of Russia and the LPR formations: in the settlement of Ragovka, Kiev region, it is planned to conduct a provocation with the organization of staged filming of the search and autopsy of mass graves of civilians, allegedly killed by Russian servicemen. In order to make this provocation more credible, a group of Ukrainian forensic medical experts and national police officers will be involved in the filming," Mikhail Mizintsev said.
According to him, in the settlement of Belogorovka, Popasnyansky district, militants mined chlorine tanks on the territory of the water utility, which they plan to blow up when approaching the city of the LPR units.
– Such actions and provocations of the Ukrainian authorities once again demonstrate their inhumane attitude to the fate of the people of Ukraine and indicate complete disregard for all norms of morality and international humanitarian law, – said the head of the National Research Center.
In battles with saboteurs
On April 10, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation told about soldiers and officers who showed courage and dedication during the fighting. Sergeant Vasily Verkhushkin noticed at night a sabotage and reconnaissance group (DRG) approaching the ammunition and property depot, for the protection of which his unit was responsible. He immediately reported this and engaged in battle with 19 militants. He destroyed the grenade launcher with the first shot. During the battle, the sergeant received shrapnel wounds from a grenade that exploded nearby, but managed to hold out until the main forces arrived. During the counterattack, the Ukrainian DRG was destroyed, the Russian military department noted.
From the very beginning of the special military operation, the engineering and reconnaissance group of Senior Lieutenant Sairan Zhusupov has been carrying out tasks on fortification equipment of checkpoints, demining of buildings and engineering reconnaissance of troop routes. During the demining of one of the settlements, the group of Sairan Zhusupov discovered and neutralized more than 15 improvised explosive devices and more than 7 anti-tank mines. In total, during the operation, Sayran Zhusupov's group explored and cleared about 600 kilometers of tracks. Among the distinguished fighters, the commander of the engineer-sapper department, Sergeant Anatoly Kishkanov, and the commander of the engineer-sapper department, Private Alexey Nepomnyashchikh, were particularly noted by the command.
"The composition of the engineering and reconnaissance group under the leadership of Senior Lieutenant Sairan Zhusupov ensured the rapid advance of troops along the route and the successful completion of combat missions," the military department noted.
Photo: TASS/Sorokin Donat
Image source: iz.ru
On Sunday, at a military clinical hospital in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, Army General Dmitry Bulgakov presented Orders of Courage and medals "For Bravery" to wounded soldiers and officers.
- On behalf of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, we present you with well-deserved awards, we express gratitude for your heroism and dedication in performing military duty. We wish you a speedy recovery and return to service. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the country are proud of you! — said the deputy minister at the award ceremony.
The servicemen admitted to the hospital have already been operated on and are undergoing rehabilitation. After discharge, they will be sent to departmental medical centers and sanatoriums for full recovery, the department said.
Anton Lavrov
