Russian Defense Ministry: Russian Forces Have Driven Ukrainian Militants Out Of Kyiv Suburbs

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Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday that Russian troops had won a battle on the outskirts of Kyiv, the Russian Satellite News Agency reported on the 21st.

"Russian airborne forces forced Ukrainian nationalist militants and Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the outskirts of Kyiv, leaving behind tanks, armored vehicles, a large number of guns, anti-tank weapons and ammunition," an official statement said.

The equipment includes T-64 and T-72 tanks, as well as German-made "Tekken 3" anti-tank missiles and 9K38 missiles, the report said. The Russian Ministry of Defense added that the Russian army will transfer the military vehicles and weapons to the Donetsk and Luhansk forces.

In the past few days, Russian forces have made considerable progress in special military operations in Ukraine, which include taking control of several settlements in the Donbass and liberating them from Ukrainian forces, the statement said.

On February 24, Putin announced a special military operation in eastern Ukraine, noting that Russia has no plans to occupy Ukraine but will work to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov previously said that Russia is not provoking a conflict with Ukraine; instead, Russia is seeking to end the years-long conflict.

Konashenkov told a news conference: "The hostilities of the Kyiv regime and the systematic extermination of the population of Donbass have continued for eight years. Over the course of the war, more than 14,000 people have been killed, including hundreds of children. This must be stopped. It is necessary to end the unending threat of the Kyiv regime to Russia. Russia will do it.”