Moscow-Sana
The Russian forces completely liberated the city of Mariupol from the control of the Ukrainian forces and extremist groups loyal to them, surrounded the rest of them inside the Azovstal factory, and shot down a Ukrainian cargo plane loaded with Western weapons near Odessa.
"The area of the city of Mariupol has been completely cleared of the militants of the Nazi Azov battalion, foreign mercenaries and Ukrainian forces, and the rest of them are now completely trapped inside the Azovstal steel plant, leaving them no chance to save their lives except to surrender," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a press briefing this evening. .
The spokesman of the Ministry stated that the Ukrainian forces had incurred losses in their ranks amounting to 23,367 members, including more than 4,000 in the city of Mariupol alone, noting that 1,464 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered to the Russian forces.
Konashenkov pointed out that the number of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol when they besieged it on the 11th of last March amounted to 8100 people, while the number of elements besieged in the Azovstal Factory is about 2500 people, including soldiers, Nazis and foreign mercenaries, noting that many of them want to lay down their arms and surrender.
The Russian defense spokesman lied the statements of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who recently said that the losses of his forces amounted to about 3,000 dead and only 10,000 wounded.
"The Russian Defense Ministry has reliable data on the real losses of the Ukrainian army, the National Guard and foreign mercenaries, which Zelensky fears today to reveal to the Ukrainian people," Konashenkov said.
Konashenkov pledged that the Russian Defense Ministry would soon publish Ukrainian documents on the losses, revealing, in particular, the places where members of the Kyiv government forces were killed and their burial places.
Konashenkov announced that Russian air defenses had shot down a Ukrainian military cargo plane loaded with a large shipment of weapons sent by Western countries to Ukraine near Odessa.
Russia has repeatedly warned that any arms shipments arriving in Ukraine from abroad will constitute military targets for its forces.
Follow Sana's news on Telegram https://t.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency