Ukraine's Zelensky had described the situation in Peski as just hell Russian forces have established complete control over the strategic settlement of Peski in the Donetsk People's Republic DPR Russia's Defense Ministry has said.
As a result of the offensive by Russian troops and DPR militia the settlement of Peski has been fully liberated from the Ukrainian military, the ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said during his daily briefing on Saturday.
Peski, located about 2 km away from the Donetsk Airport, has been one of the main pillars of the elaborate defense line of Ukraine in the DPR.
Since 2015 the settlement had been heavily fortified. A DPR militia commander told Russia's Channel One last week that the area had been turned into a huge garrison from which all civilians were evacuated long ago. All buildings in Peski are surrounded by trenches, while Ukrainian defenses have been set up according to NATO standards, he pointed out.
The joint operation to seize the settlement began in late July and saw intense fighting and artillery shelling. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky described the situation in Peski and nearby Avdeevka in early August, saying it's just hell there. It can't be described in words. Over the past 24 hours, strikes against Kiev's forces and military infrastructure continued in other parts of Ukraine, Konashenkov said.
A HIMARS multiple rocket launcher and a warehouse that held munitions for it were destroyed near Kramatorsk in the DPR, according to the spokesman.
More than a hundred Ukrainian troops and members of the nationalist Right Sector group were killed in a strike near Starye Terny village in the DPR, Konashenkov said.
Radicals from the Right Sector played a key role in the violent coup in Kiev in 2014 and took an active part in the fighting in Donbass over the next two years.