MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. In the course of the special operation in Ukraine, Russian troops leaped the Kashlagach River and breached the defenses of the Aidar battalion to advance five kilometers, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

"Units of the Russian armed forces leaped the Kashlagach River and breached the Aidar battalion’s defenses to advance five kilometers to Shakhterskoye-Novoukrainka," he said. According to the spokesman, 30 militants were killed, one tank, one armored infantry carrier and four all-terrain cars were destroyed.

Meanwhile, People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic has took control of the settlement of Taramchuk and is chasing the retreating enemy. Forces of the Lugansk People’s Republic reach northern suburbs of the city of Lisichansk.

Russia’s air force has hit 59 military infrastructure facilities in Ukraine during the day, Konashenkov said. "During the day, Russia’s tactical aviation hit 59 military facilities in Ukraine, including three control centers, two multiple missile launcher systems and two radar stations near the city of Bogodukhov, two weapons depots, and 51 places of military vehicles’ deployment," he said.

According to Konashenkov, a Russian Forpost-RU drome destroyed a guidance radar of an S-300 missile system near the settlement of Vypolzov some 60 kilometers north of Kiev. Russian air defense systems downed five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, including one Bayraktar, near Malovorontsovka.

Since the beginning of the special military operation, 201 Ukrainian drones, 1,443 tanks and other armored vehicles, 147 multiple missile launcher systems, 564 artillery systems and mortars, and 1,248 special military cars have been destroyed, he added.