A Ukrainian combat helicopter and four Bayraktar TB-2 attack drones were shot down during a special operation to demilitarize Ukraine, Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said.
“A combat helicopter and four Bayraktar TB-2 attack unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down,” RIA Novosti quoted Konashekov as saying.
On Thursday morning, Vladimir Putin, in a televised address to the Russians, said that in accordance with the UN Charter, with the approval of the Federation Council and in pursuance of friendship and mutual assistance treaties with the DPR and LPR, he decided to conduct a special military operation in Donbass.
The head of state said that circumstances “require decisive and immediate action from us, the people’s republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.”
The President of the Russian Federation stressed that the responsibility for the bloodshed in Ukraine would be on the conscience of the Kiev regime. Putin urged the Ukrainian servicemen not to carry out criminal orders, “to lay down their arms and go home.”