MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Ukrainian nationalists are preventing the evacuation of over 6,000 citizens of India, Vietnam and China from Kharkov, Head of the Inter-Agency Humanitarian Response Coordination Headquarters, Chief of Russia’s National Defense Control Center Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Thursday.
"The righteous indignation is caused by the outrageous cases of terrorist actions by Ukrainian nationalists involving the forced custody and the banned evacuation of civilians and foreign nationals - 3,189 citizens of India, up to 2,700 from Vietnam and 202 Chinese nationals from Kharkov, 576 citizens of India, 101 citizens of Ghana and 121 Chinese nationals from the city of Sumy and 9 citizens of Indonesia from Chernigov," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on the morning of February 24 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.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.