MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine pursues a goal of holding the puppet regime accountable for their crimes, including against Russian citizens, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday.

"Its goal is to protect the people who have been subjected to brutalities and genocide for eight years by the Kiev regime, which came to power in 2014 in an unconstitutional coup d’·tat," she said.

"Another goal of the operation is to hold the current figures, the puppet regime, accountable for the crimes committed over these years against civilians, including citizens of the Russian Federation, as well as to carry out the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine," the diplomat added.

The diplomat pointed out that during the operation Russia’s military were neither targeting cities nor deliberately carrying out any threat to civilians.

"I would like to emphasize that during the current special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces are not conducting any missile, air or artillery strikes on the country’s cities. They are taking out of action the military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields and aircraft of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There is no intentional threat to the civilian population," she said.

Zakharova pointed out that over the past eight years Russia had done its best to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

"For the sake of Ukraine’s future and unity, along with the prosperity of the people of Ukraine, we exerted our best efforts to encourage the Kiev authorities to halt their punitive operation against their own people, to find a peaceful, political and diplomat solution to the conflict in Donbass, and to establish a direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, as provided by item 4 of the package of measures. It, I will remind, requires the Ukrainian authorities to enter into a dialogue on the modalities of local elections, and, actually, on the future of those areas in conformity with the Ukrainian legislation. Sadly, we were simply ignored," she concluded.

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.

When clarifying the unfolding developments, 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.