Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Luhansk People’s Republic Vitaliy Kiselyov announced that 15-16 thousand Ukrainian soldiers were caught in the “cauldron” in the Severodonetsk and Lysichansk regions. “Up to 20 thousand, I doubt it is, but it will be exactly 15-16 thousand, yes,” Channel One replied to a journalist’s related question (quoted by TASS).
According to Kiselyov, the main task of the besieged fighters was to destroy the life support infrastructure – to “destroy as much as possible”, while at the same time “put the burden on the Russian Federation and the LPR in the future”. “Intimidate the civilian population in such a way that they fear for years,” said the deputy minister.
Kiselyov claimed that these troops were ordered not to withdraw from their positions. “Likewise, when prisoners were taken in Rubizhnoye, they said that they repeatedly appealed to the order: “We were forbidden to leave, they told us to stop until death.” And high-ranking commanders fled a long time ago, a month ago,” he added.
As Andrey Marochko, an officer of the LPR People’s Militia, clarified in Severodonetsk, conflicts are already taking place in urban areas;
Control over Orekhovo and Drobyshevo
The LPR People’s Militia also reported that republican forces took control of the small village of Orekhovo, with a population of just over 200, in the Popasnyansky District.
The people’s militias of the Donetsk People’s Republic previously stated that they control the urban-type settlement of Drobyshevo, where two kilometers away is the landscape reserve Podpesochnoe of local importance. The population of the village was 3 thousand people compared to 2013.
Destroyed unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Kharkov
On May 17, the special forces of the Russian Guard said: destroyed Ukrainian troops and military equipment unit near Kharkov. The movement of the enemy armored group was discovered by reconnaissance.
“A battle began, in which, under the fire of the BMP, part of the enemy forces tried to break through the positions of the search group of the Russian guards. Orienting themselves to the emerging situation, the special forces of the Russian Guards directed the fire of the enemy towards them. At the same time, the BMP of the nationalists was destroyed by an accurate shot from an RPG-30, ”the statement said.
In addition, the coordinates of the target were transferred to the artillery team of the Ministry of Defense. As a result of the conflict, two infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed.
Ukrainian soldiers were driven out of Mariupol
A convoy of buses left Mariupol, possibly with Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered and had been evacuated from Azovstal earlier. Armored vehicles accompanied the column. Not a single shot or explosion was heard before the column began to move, RIA Novosti reported.
Major General Igor Konashenkov, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, said earlier that 265 fighters surrendered in Azovstal in one day. 51 of them are seriously injured. All doctors who needed help were sent to the Novoazovsk hospital.
Source: Gazeta
