MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. More than 1,300 Russian servicemen have been killed in the special military operation in Ukraine, First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Sergey Rudskoy said on Friday.

"Unfortunately, there have been casualties among our comrades-in-arms in the special military operation. As of today, 1,351 servicemen have been killed and 3,825 others have been wounded," Rudskoy said.

According to the colonel general, the Russian government will provide support to their families.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on 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, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.

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.