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Special operation underway in Ukraine — Kremlin replies to question about war

Dmitry Peskov stressed that it wasn't necessary for him to explain anything, since the head of state had given exhaustive explanations in his address to the Russian citizens in the morning

MOSCOW, February 24./TASS/. Russia is carrying out a special operation in Ukraine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed on Thursday when asked whether the developments in Ukraine could be called a war.

"This is a special operation. I don’t think it is necessary for me to explain anything, since the president [of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin] gave exhaustive explanations in his address to the Russian citizens in the morning," Peskov told journalists.

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.