The Russian military's sapper units have destroyed more than 100 explosive objects in the past two days at Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol which had been a hotbed of Ukrainian resistance for past many weeks.
The territory in the devastated port city of southeastern Ukraine was taken under complete control by the Russian forces after Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Friday that it had been cleared of "Ukrainian nationalists".
A video released by the Russian Defence Ministry on Monday showed its specialized armoured demining vehicles involved in conducting engineering reconnaissance and demining from explosive objects in "most dangerous areas".
"Sappers discovered and neutralized minefields and traps from anti-personnel mines, with which the nationalists mined the entire perimeter of the enterprise and buildings on its territory. The sappers also neutralized unexploded ordnance and dangerous weapons," the Russian Defence Ministry said today.
Moscow has also accused Kyiv of a "criminal attack" on the village of Belozerka in the Kherson region with cluster munitions from the Uragan multiple launch rocket system.
"In total, 8 unguided rockets were fired at the settlement by the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As a result of the shelling, more than ten houses of civilians were damaged. Two people died, including a 14-year-old child. About ten people were injured of varying severity," said the Russian Defence Ministry.
Meanwhile, it said that the Russian Air Force's Su-35S fighters continue to strike with precision-guided weapons at military infrastructure facilities and military equipment of Ukraine.
During the flight missions carried out from temporary airfields, the jets are provided air cover by the Su-34 bombers.
The Su-35S aircraft has the ability to use the entire range of existing and future types of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, including high-precision ones.
It is designed to gain air supremacy by destroying manned and unmanned aerial vehicles with guided missiles at long, medium and short ranges,
"To destroy the aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, radar stations, air defence systems, the crews use guided high-precision missiles of various air-to-air and air-to-surface classes. Departures for combat use are carried out in daylight and at night in all weather conditions," said the ministry while releasing a video.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defence also acknowledged on Monday that Russia has "increased the intensity of the use of aircraft to destroy the critical infrastructure" in the area of active hostilities.
"In the Volyn and Polissya directions, the armed forces of the republic of Belarus are conducting intensive reconnaissance, and additional units are being deployed in the border areas of the Gomel region. The threat of air and missile strikes from the territory of the republic of Belarus remained," it said in an operational update Monday morning.
The ministry added that over the past 24 hours, eleven russian attacks have been repulsed in the Donetsk and Luhansk directions with the Ukrainian forces destroying six tanks, 10 units of armoured combat vehicles, six units of enemy vehicles besides bringing down one Orlan-10 UAV and a Su-25 aircraft in these areas.
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