Russia claims it hit Ukraine's last large fuel base

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday it destroyed Ukraine's last large fuel base in the suburbs of Kyiv and a training base of foreign mercenaries.

The fuel base in the Kalinovka settlement was hit with sea-based high-precision Kalibr cruise missiles, the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a daily briefing in Moscow.

"In the evening of March 24, high-precision sea-based cruise missiles Kalibr struck a fuel base in the settlement of Kalinovka near Kyiv. The largest of the remaining fuel bases of the armed forces of Ukraine, from which fuel was supplied to military units in the central part of the country, was destroyed," he said.

The training ground of the foreign mercenaries was hit with ballistic and cruise missiles, fired from a mobile short-range ballistic missile system, Konashenkov added.

A group of "Night Hunters" -- Ka-52 and Mi-26N helicopters -- destroyed 24 units of military equipment, including seven tanks, while the Aerospace Forces hit 51 objects of Ukraine's military infrastructure, he noted.

"Over the past night, the aviation hit Ukraine's 51 military objects. Among them were two command centers, three multiple rocket launchers, two Buk-M1 air defense systems, and radar of an S-300 air defense system in the area of Dnipropetrovsk (the city of Dnipro), as well as three D-30 artillery pieces, two warehouses of rocket and artillery weapons and ammunition, 26 areas of concentration of military equipment," Konashenkov said.

The Russian air defense systems also downed Ukraine's four unmanned aerial vehicles, the spokesman noted.

"In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 261 unmanned aerial vehicles, 204 air defense systems, 1,587 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 163 multiple rocket launchers, 636 field artillery and mortars, as well as 1,397 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed," he said.

Russia began its war on Feb. 24. It has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,035 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured, according to UN estimates, while cautioning that the true figure is likely far higher.

More than 3.6 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighboring countries, with millions more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency.