Russia confirms its armed forces suffered casualties

MOSCOW

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed its armed forced suffered casualties after its intervention in Ukraine, but did not specify a number.

At a daily briefing in Moscow, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said "Russian servicemen showed courage and heroism while performing combat duties" but admitted that there were dead and wounded, and some of them were captured.

Konashenkov said the Ukrainian forces tortured a few captured Russian servicemen.

"All faces, voices, phones, their coordinates, IP addresses, as well as correspondence of all Ukrainian Nazis involved in the torture of our comrades have been recorded and identified. This also applies to the leaders of the Kyiv regime and their perpetrators, who directly call for bullying of Russian servicemen in violation of the convention on the treatment of prisoners of war," he said.

"All of you will be found and will inevitably bear severe responsibility," he warned.

Konashenkov said Ukrainian captives were being treated respectfully, who will return to their families after the end of the operation.

According to Konashenkov, since the beginning "of the special military operation" on Thursday, the Russian armed forces hit 1,067 targets of Ukraine's military infrastructure, including 27 control points and communication centers, 38 anti-aircraft missile systems of air defense S-300, Buk M-1, and Osa, as well as 56 radar stations.

"Just today, 7 anti-aircraft missile systems were destroyed, including one S-300 near the city of Kramatorsk," he said.

Earlier, 254 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 31 aircraft on the ground, 46 multiple rocket launchers, 103 field artillery and mortars, 164 units of special military vehicles were disabled, he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Thursday, days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine.

He claimed that Moscow had no plan to occupy its neighbor, but wanted to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.

In response, Western powers imposed financial sanctions on Moscow, and announced military and humanitarian support for Kyiv.