Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov reported in his second briefing of the day, today, that the militias of the Luhansk People’s Republic have advanced 12 km in the Severodonetsk direction, about 75 km northwest of Luhansk city, while militias of the Donetsk People’s Republics have advanced 11 km in the direction of Volnovakha, about 50 km southwest of Donetsk city. “Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not participate in hostilities for the most part,” he said. “Only battalions of Ukrainian Nazis are resisting.”
In this context, Konashenkov charged that the SBU—the Ukrainian security service—has integrated groups of 25-30 “notorious nationalists” into units of the regular Ukrainian army. “Nationalists identify as unreliable among Ukrainian servicemen,” he said. “And if the commanders of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decide to withdraw from the occupied lines, they act as barrage detachments. In some directions, they blow up bridges to exclude the possibility of retreat of military units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“More than one case has been recorded of lynching and reprisals by nationalists against those who do not want to fight to intimidate the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Konashenkov affirmed. “Ukrainian servicemen who laid down their arms say this.”
As for the tactical situation, Konashenkov reported that Chernihiv (Chernigov) has been blocked, the airport in Gostomel was captured by means of a huge helicopter assault, involving 200 helicopters. “The success of the landing was ensured by the suppression of the entire air defense system in the landing area, the complete isolation of the combat area from the air and active electronic warfare.” More than 200 nationalists were killed in the assault, he said, while Russian forces suffered no casualties. “At present, the main forces of the airborne troops have connected with the units of the Russian servicemen at the Gostomel airfield, blocking Kiev from the west,” he said.
