Donetsk, Mar 24 - DAN. Donetsk People’s Republic and Russian armed forces have eliminated 23 enemy fire positions over the past 24 hours killing several dozen Ukrainian gunmen; 12 gunmen have surrendered, DPR People’s Militia deputy commander Eduard Basurin said on Thursday.

“Our servicemen destroyed 76 Ukrainian invaders, 23 fire positions, two infantry fighting vehicles, an armored personnel carrier and a truck,” Basurin said.

A dozen servicemen from the Ukrainian army’s 54th Mechanized Brigade and 25th Airborne Brigade turned themselves in to the DPR forces. The trophies included two self-propelled howitzers (2C1 “Gvozdika”, 122mm), three anti-tank guns (MT-12 “Rapira”), an IFV, an armored command vehicle and a field artillery ammunition dump, he added.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of the operation aimed at denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine. On the same day, the DPR and LPR forces launched a liberation movement in the Donbass region. *jk