Russian forces hit Ukrainian airfield, intelligence center: Moscow

MOSCOW

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it hit Ukraine's Vasylkiv military airfield and an intelligence center in Brovary, both near the capital Kyiv, with high-precision weapons.

"On the morning of March 12, a strike was carried out with high-precision long-range weapons on the objects of the military infrastructure of Ukraine. The military airfield in Vasylkiv and the main center of radio intelligence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Brovary were disabled," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a daily briefing in Moscow.

Also, Russian air defense systems have downed five unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), added Konashenkov.

Over the past day, the Russian aerospace forces struck 145 Ukrainian military targets, including three Buk M-1 air defense systems, eight control and communication centers, five ammunition and fuel depots, and 78 locations where military equipment had been accumulated, said the official.

He noted that in total, 3,491 military infrastructure targets of Ukraine were disabled in the course of the Russia-Ukraine war, including 123 UAVs, 1,127 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 115 multiple rocket launchers, 423 field artillery and mortar guns, and 934 units of special military vehicles.

Konashenkov also said that rebel forces of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions took control of five settlements.

At least 564 civilians have been killed and 957 others injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war on Feb. 24, the UN has said, while also cautioning that conditions on the ground make it difficult to verify the true number.

Over 2.5 million people have fled to neighboring countries, with about 2 million more estimated to be displaced inside Ukraine, according to the UN refugee agency.