IRYNA BALACHUK – TUESDAY, 5 JULY 2022, 13:41
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu continues to believe that the war in Ukraine will end with the full fulfilment of all the tasks set by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Source: “RIA Novosti” and Russian “Interfax” news agency with reference to Shoigu’s statement at a conference call at the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on 5 July
Quote from Shoigu: “Today, the main priorities for us are the preservation of life and health of subordinate personnel, and the elimination of threats to the safety of the civilian population. The special military operation will continue until the tasks assigned by the Supreme Commander are completed.”
Details: He also announced the alleged “destruction of 170 foreign mercenaries and private military company employees in 10 days” and that allegedly “99 foreigners gave up fighting and left the country.”
Also, according to Shoigu, Russian bomb disposal experts allegedly cleared more than 3,700 hectares of the territory of the so-called “DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) and LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic)” from mines, and the occupation authorities allegedly created “two humanitarian corridors for the movement of civilian sea vessels” and allegedly “completely eliminated the mine danger in the water area of the port of Mariupol.”
Background:
On 24 February, after eight years of hybrid war in Donbas, Russia attacked Ukraine in a full-scale war.
In response, many countries introduced large-scale sanctions against Russia.
On 3 July, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation announced that it had captured the Luhansk region.
Most of the Donetsk and Kherson regions and partly Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions are also occupied by the Russians.
At the same time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine succeeded in expelling the occupiers from the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions.
