In the underground facilities of the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol, where the radicals of the Ukrainian Azov formation who had surrendered were hiding, an isothermal van with a broken cooling system was found in which 152 bodies of dead militants and servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were stored, said the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, General Major Igor Konashenkov.
“Let me remind you that before being taken prisoner, the Azov command publicly appealed to Zelensky with a request to take the bodies of the dead so that the families could bury them in the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime.
However, no requests from Kyiv to receive the bodies of the dead from the Azovstal plant have been received, ”he stressed.
“During the inspection of the van, Russian sappers found four mines placed under the bodies of the dead Ukrainian servicemen.
The cumulative mass of the explosive in them was sufficient to destroy all the remains of the bodies remaining in the van.
Based on the results of interrogations of the captured Azov militants, it was established that the mining of the bodies was carried out on direct orders from Kyiv.
The purpose of the provocation is to accuse Russia of intentionally destroying the remains of the bodies and preventing them from being taken out for transfer to relatives in order to save the political reputation of the Kyiv regime and Zelensky personally, ”Konashenkov said.
According to him, in the near future, the bodies of Ukrainian militants and servicemen found on the territory of the Azovstal plant will be handed over to representatives of Ukraine.
In turn, the head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, on the Soloviev LIVE channel, said that several more "lost" Ukrainian militants were found at Azovstal.
He also assured that the trial of the captured Ukrainian soldiers from Azovstal would be as open as possible.
“We will make it as open as possible, we will invite international organizations, representatives of other countries, including Western ones,” he said.
“Biden is bent by their own”
On the morning of May 31, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova spoke about the situation with Washington's refusal to supply Kyiv with multiple launch rocket systems capable of delivering strikes on Russian territory.
On May 30, US President Joe Biden said that the United States would not supply such weapons to Ukraine.
After that, former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul expressed the hope that the head of the White House would change his mind, while Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president's office, promised that Kyiv would give Washington a "model hysteria" if the country was not provided with MLRS.
“The system is well-organized.
Biden is being bent by their own — a group of neocons of the Democratic Party, using Kyiv clowns,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Earlier, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev pointed out that if Russian cities were attacked, the Russian Armed Forces "would strike at the centers for making these criminal decisions," some of which "are not located in Kyiv at all."
Briefing by the Russian Defense Ministry on the progress of the special operation in support of Donbass
The official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, also said that over the past day, the Russian Armed Forces had hit four command posts, as well as 13 areas of concentration of manpower and Ukrainian military equipment, with high-precision air-launched missiles.
At the same time, aviation attacked three command posts, 69 areas of concentration of manpower and military equipment, a radar station and two ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of Raygorodok and Nikolaevka settlements of the Donetsk People's Republic.
“In total, as a result of air strikes, up to 290 nationalists and 23 units of weapons and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed.
In addition, a Su-25 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down in the area of the settlement of Kobzartsy, Mykolaiv region, ”he said.
© Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Also, Russian air defense systems shot down six Ukrainian drones, including one in the area of Snake Island.
Rocket and artillery strikes destroyed 36 units of weapons and military equipment, including the Ukrainian battery of the Uragan multiple launch rocket system, the battery of the Grad multiple launch rocket system, two ammunition depots, and a fuel depot.