Russia launches missile strikes on strongholds of Ukrainian 'nationalists'

Moscow, March 19: The Russian Aerospace Forces have launched rocket attacks on the strongholds of Ukrainian "nationalists", the Defence Ministry in Moscow said. According to the Ministry, the forces carried out the strikes in pairs from low and extremely low altitudes, RT News reported. "As a result of an air strike, a stronghold of a company of Ukrainian nationalists and camouflaged armoured vehicles were destroyed," it said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said that the country's armed forces had lost access to the Sea of Azov. Earlier, Major General Igor Konashenkov, official representative of the Russian Defence Ministry, had announced the complete blocking of the exit for Ukrainian forces to the Sea of Azov.

"Advanced detachments of the People's Militia of the DPR reached the administrative border of the Donetsk region and connected with the military units of the Russian Armed Forces, which took control of the regions of Ukraine along the coast of the Sea of Azov," Konashenkov said. According to him, "from today, the exit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the Sea of Azov is completely blocked".