The spokesman for the Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, indicated that this is happening while the forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) are besieging the city and closing in on it.

The headquarters of the territorial defense of the DPR reported the explosion of a residential building in Mariupol as a result of an attack perpetrated by elements of Ukraine’s Azov battalion, conformed mainly by nationalists.

“200 people are trapped under the rubble, most of them women and children,” the Defense Headquarters said on Saturday.

The Russian military spokesman reiterated that Russian forces are not conducting attacks against Ukrainian cities and are using only high-precision weapons to disable the military infrastructure of Ukraine.

In regards to this, he stated that the Russian troops have eliminated 2,037 military facilities since the beginning of the military operation on February 24th.

Konashenkov noted that the Russian military destroyed a large warehouse housing Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missile systems (US- and UK-made, respectively) in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr.

During the night, the DPR troops advanced 27 kilometers thanks to the fire support of the Russian Armed Forces.

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