All news

Control over Donbass to provide for ground corridor to Crimea, says military commander

The special military operation "must be successfully accomplished," Major-General Rustam Minnekayev also pointed out

YEKATERINBURG, April 22. /TASS/. Russian Armed Forces’ control over Donbass will enable to establish a ground corridor to Crimea and to gain influence over vitally-important Ukrainian military facilities, Deputy Commander of Russia’s Central Military District Major-General Rustam Minnekayev said on Friday.

"This [control over Donbass] will enable us to establish a ground corridor to Crimea and to gain influence over the vitally-important Ukrainian [military] facilities, the Black Sea ports, which service deliveries of the agricultural and metallurgical products to other countries," the general said at an annual meeting of the Union of Defense Industry Enterprises of the Sverdlovsk Region.

Minnekayev added that the special military operation "must be successfully accomplished," adding that all set tasks would be achieved.

"We did not start this war, but we will put an end to it," he added.

Situation in Donbass

The situation at the line of engagement in Donbass escalated on February 17. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) reported the most massive bombardments by the Ukrainian military in recent months, which damaged civilian infrastructure and caused civilian casualties.

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as of the beginning of 2014.

Russian President 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 Ukraine. 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 DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.