Iran Press/ Europe: Russia began an operation to demilitarize Ukraine in February after receiving a formal request for assistance from the newly recognized Donbas republics, who faced weeks of escalating shelling, sabotage and sniper attacks by Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine's air and air defense forces have been almost completely destroyed, and the country's navy has effectively ceased to exist, Russian General Staff Main Operational Directorate chief Sergei Rudskoy has said, according to Sputnik.
The campaign to demilitarize Ukraine is taking place via precision strikes against military infrastructure facilities, areas of deployment of formations of troops, as well as airfields, command posts, arsenals and depots containing weapons and equipment, plus battles between Ukrainian and Russian forces, Rudskoy said in a briefing Friday.
"At present, the Ukrainian Air Force and the system of air defences have been almost completely destroyed. The country's naval forces have ceased to exist," the officer said.
Rudskoy warned that Russia would "not leave unattended" any attempts to supply Kyiv with new aircraft and air defense systems, and warned NATO against the implementation of a no-fly zone.
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