Russia says ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine goes ‘according to plan’

Latest news on the war pitting Russia and Ukraine.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday that the “special military operation” in eastern Ukraine announced last February by Russian President Vladimir Putin is going “according to plan.”

On Ukraine’s Independence Day, a symbolic date for Kiev on the anniversary of six months since the war was declared, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry explained that the Russian Army is carrying out “systematic work in the liberated territories to establish a peaceful life.”

“Ukrainian military units are using scorched-earth tactics, flagrantly violating international norms and acting as terrorists,” he has indicated, adding that they use the population as a “human shield,” TASS news agency has picked up.

Thus, Shoigu has stressed that since Ukraine refused to comply with the Minsk agreements, there was “a real threat” to the residents of the Donbas region, so the “special military operation” in Ukraine was “necessary”.

Also, the Russian Defense Minister has assured that the slowdown of actions on the Ukrainian ground is a “conscious” decision, as “it is done deliberately to avoid civilian casualties,” as Kommersant has gathered.

“Today a harsh sanctions and information war has been unleashed against Russia. The conflict in Ukraine has become just another pretext. The goal of the United States and its accomplices is the strategic exhaustion of Russia in order to eliminate competition and warn other states pursuing an independent foreign policy,” he has zanelled.

These statements come on a very symbolic day for Ukraine. The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, has gone this Wednesday together with his wife to the tribute in Kiev to the ‘Heavenly Hundred’, which remembers the victims of the Maidan.

Acting head of the Ukrainian Security Service Vasil Maliuk has stressed that, “with weapons in hand,” they will defend “what every Ukrainian family has been building for decades.” “The main thing is that we will defend the future of the country,” he added, Ukrinform news agency reported.

In the same terms, the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klichko, has pronounced on his official Facebook profile, who has said that Kiev “is bravely fighting for its land and its will.” “We have shown that we are not afraid and that we will not surrender,” he has said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has specified, according to a presidential statement, that from this Wednesday a minute of silence will be held “every day” to honor the victims of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The initiative will be carried out both in the media and in the Cabinet of Ministers, as well as in regional administrations and foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine abroad.