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MOSCOW. – Russian airstrikes have destroyed foreign-supplied tanks in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, Moscow said yesterday.
Defence Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said during a regular briefing that Russian forces carried out airstrikes “on the outskirts of Kiev, destroying the T-72 tanks and other armored vehicles that were supplied by Eastern European countries and kept in railcar repair facilities.”
The spokesman did not specify where the tanks came from, but Poland previously said it had donated T-72 tanks to Ukraine.
Konashenkov said that military targets were also hit in Donbass, as well as in eastern and southern Ukraine, including multiple rocket launchers and a US-made mobile counterfire radar.
Ukraine’s General Staff earlier reported that Kiev was among the areas hit by Russian forces. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was hospitalised.
On Saturday night, the Donetsk authorities said Ukrainian troops shelled the city, killing five civilians and wounding 20.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of shelling residential areas and killing civilians.
Russia launched a special military operation the neighbouring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc.
Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force. – Russia Today
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