MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. Russia launches strikes only against Ukraine’s military facilities during the special military operation and does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.
"The Russian Armed Forces are carrying out precision strikes against military targets and are going to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties," she said.
"This cannot be said of the Ukrainian armed formations, whose barbaric combat methods are simply horrifying. Ukrainian tanks and artillery are stationed in schools, kindergartens and hospitals. Firing positions are set up in residential buildings in order to hide behind civilians as human shields," the diplomat added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman recalled again that for eight years, the West had been disregarding the crimes committed by the Kiev regime in Donbass.
"For eight years we have witnessed Kiev’s war crimes and the West’s indifference to the Donbass tragedy. In September 2014 and February 2015, the Ukrainian authorities signed the package of agreements [called] Minsk-1 and Minsk-2. Our attempts to compel Kiev to comply with its obligations were fruitless, including, and probably primarily, due to the stance of Western countries that played their own game by militarily exploiting the territory of Ukraine and transforming it into a springboard against Russia, while hiding behind the words of certain involvement in the political process of peace negotiations," Zakharova stressed.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine following a request for help from the leaders of two Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans for an occupation of Ukrainian territories, its aims being the country’s demilitarization and denazification.