MOSCOW, May 17 — RIA Novosti. The Russian Defense Ministry has published a video with the destruction of armored vehicles of two Ukrainian mechanized battalions that tried to launch a counterattack on May 14.
The video shows footage from a drone that is barraging over the countryside. Artillery hits on tanks and infantry fighting vehicles of Ukrainian troops are shown. You can also observe the results of fire damage — Ukrainian armored vehicles burned to the ground, a tank with a torn tower after an explosion of ammunition.
"On the fourteenth of May, Russian servicemen in the Zaporozhye direction stopped an attempt to counterattack Ukrainian armed formations, causing damage to the nationalists in manpower and armored vehicles. In the area of the village of Vishnevoye, Zaporozhye region, the Kiev regime attempted to attack units of the Russian Armed Forces by two Ukrainian mechanized battalions on tanks and infantry fighting vehicles," the Defense Ministry commented on the video.
According to the department, 26 Ukrainian tanks and 12 infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed by Russian units, the irretrievable losses of the enemy in manpower amounted to about a hundred militants.
The ministry clarified that the advance of enemy armored vehicles and preparations for the attack were detected by drones and technical intelligence means.
The armored vehicles were hit by unmanned aerial vehicles, artillery was working, and the Russian military also fired back from tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. The Ukrainian troops fled.
Earlier, the Russian military took control of the entire Kherson region and the Azov part of the Zaporozhye region. Civil-military administrations have been formed in the regions. Thus, it was possible to completely cut off Ukraine from the Sea of Azov, as well as connect these territories with the DPR.
Russia has been conducting a special operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine since February 24. Vladimir Putin called its goal "the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." According to the Ministry of Defense, the Russian army strikes only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, the civilian population is not in danger. The main purpose of the operation in the department called the liberation of Donbass.