MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. Ukraine’s air defenses are suppressed, military airfield infrastructure is degraded and Ukrainian border guards are not putting up any resistance to Russian troops, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"The Ukrainian border guards are not putting up any resistance to Russian units. The Ukrainian air defenses are suppressed. The military infrastructure of Ukrainian Air Force bases has been degraded," the ministry said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later on Thursday that Russian troops were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. It emphasized that Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons.

Civilians are not threatened, it assured.