The Russian army will continue the special military operation in Ukraine until it achieves its goals. The statement came from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, TASS News Agency reports.

“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will continue to conduct special military operations until they achieve their goals. The main thing for us is to protect the Russian Federation from the military threat posed by Western countries, which are trying to use the Ukrainian people in the fight against our country,” Shoigu said at the conference.

The Head of the Ministry of Defense drew attention to the fact that the Russian military does not occupy the territory of Ukraine, takes all measures to protect the lives and security of the civilian population.

“I want to emphasize that the strikes are carried out only on military targets, exclusively with high-precision weapons,” he added.

“During hostilities, the Ukrainian side does not hesitate to use civilians as human shields. Numerous missile systems, rifles, large-caliber grenade launchers are installed in the yards of residential buildings, near schools and kindergartens,” he said and emphasized that he thanked the staff for their courage, heroism, and conscientious performance of the assigned tasks.

It should be noted that on 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the leaders of the Donbas republics. He stressed that Moscow’s plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories, the goal is the demilitarization and denationalization of the country.