MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. The Russian Armed Forces have hit 1,612 targets since the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.

"As many as 1,612 targets have been hit since the start of the operation, including 62 command posts and communications centers, 39 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa missile systems and 52 radar stations," he specified.

According to him, 49 aircraft were destroyed on the ground and another 13 in the air. A total of 606 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 67 multiple rocket launchers, 227 field artillery pieces and mortars, 405 military motor vehicles and 53 unmanned aerial vehicles were also destroyed.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later that the Russian Armed Forces were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. The ministry emphasized that the Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons and there was no threat to civilians.