Russian troops stationed in the Balakleya and Izyum regions have regrouped and were sent to the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic in the far east of Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov announced.
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The announcement comes as the Ukrainian armed forces claim to have recaptured a town in Russian-held territory in the country’s east.
“In order to achieve the declared goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas, it was decided to regroup the Russian troops stationed in the Balakleya and Izium areas to intensify efforts in the Donetsk direction,” Konashenkov said.
He explained that in the course of this operation, a series of distraction and demonstration activities were carried out to mark the real actions of the troops.
For this purpose, an operation was carried out within three days to restrict and organize the transfer of the Izyum-Balakley group of troops to the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” he said.
In this regard, the Ministry of Defense specified that during the operation to regroup Russian troops in the direction of Donetsk, air, missile and artillery attacks were carried out against the positions of the Ukrainian army.
Here’s the full statement from Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov on the decision to “regroup” troops from Balakliya and Izyum pic.twitter.com/P8BHn7VHOR
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September 10, 2022
“During this operation, a series of diversionary and demonstration activities were carried out with the designation of the actual actions of the troops. In order to avoid damage to the Russian troops, a powerful fire defeat was inflicted on the enemy using aviation, troops of missiles and artillery,” the ministry said.