MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/. The Ukrainian leadership is under the influence of radicals and has fully lost control of the state of affairs in the country, Chief of Russia’s National Defense Control Center Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Monday.
"The Ukrainian leadership has fully lost control of the state of affairs in its own country, is insolvent and unable to deal with any issues because it is under the tough influence of radicals who are actually the parallel power that does not recognize any laws," Mizintsev explained.
The general outlined absurd requests by the Ukrainian side to ensure evacuation from the communities of Bucha, Borodyanka, Irpen, Dymer, Liptsi and Strilecha where the Russian troops were located and where none of the residents expressed the desire to be evacuated.
The Kiev authorities also requested the Russian side to organize the evacuation of civilians from the cities of Izyum and Balakleya in the Kharkov Region, which are under full control of nationalist battalions and the Russian troops had no relation to ensuring security in these localities so far, the general said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced 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 Ukraine 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 and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.
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.