Russia admits to sending conscripts to the military invasion of Ukraine and says it destroyed anti-aircraft defense

The Russian Government officially acknowledged today that has sent some recruits to the so-called “special military operation”, as it calls the invasion of Ukraineand said that he is taking measures so that all of them return to Russia.

“Unfortunately, some cases have been revealed in which there were conscripts in the units of the Russian Armed Forces participating in the special military operation in Ukraine. Almost all of those service members have been brought to Russia,” the Defense Ministry spokesman said.Igor Konashenkov, according to Russian agencies.

Konashenko claimed that one of those units, “which was assigned combat service support tasks, was attacked by a sabotage group from a Ukrainian battalion” and that “some servicemen, including conscripts, were captured”.

The spokesman assured that “exhaustive measures are being taken so that the recruits cannot be sent to the combat areas and so that the captured soldiers are released.”

So far, Russian military officials, and the president himself Vladimir Putin, had repeatedly denied that recruits had been sent on the offensive against Ukraine.

At the same press conference, the military spokesman said that Russian forces have destroyed almost all of Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defense since the invasion on February 24 under the pretext of protecting the pro-Russian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. .

“In the course of the operation, a total of 2,786 facilities of Ukraine’s military infrastructure have been destroyed. (…) To date, 90% of the military airfields, on which the bulk of military aviation was based, have been rendered useless,” he said.

In addition, Russian troops have disabled more than 90% of long- and medium-range anti-aircraft defense systems, as well as 81 radiolocation posts of the enemy air force, for which Ukraine “has practically lost military command of military aviation and anti-aircraft defense.

destruction data

He specified that before the “special military operation”as Russia qualifies its offensive in Ukraine, that country had “up to 250 war planes and helicopters”, but that the Russian army has already destroyed 89 planes and 57 helicopters, taking into account that even before the invasion part of the Ukrainian military air park took refuge in Romania and does not participate in the fighting.

He added that in the Ukrainian army “there are practically no first- and second-class pilots left” and that there are currently “few” attempts to fly the country’s warplanes.

According to Konashenkov, in the absence of own data, the Ukrainian army tries to obtain information on the aerial situation from the command center of E-A3 aircraft of the AWACS-NATO system installed in the Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa, patrolling the skies of neighboring Poland 24 hours a day.

He also reported that in the course of the war operation against the neighboring country, the Russian army also destroyed 953 Ukrainian tanks and armored cars, 101 multiple jet missile launch systems, 351 guns and mortars, 93 drones and 718 trucks and other military vehicles. (I)