BY (AA)

The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday declared complete control of the Ukrainian airspace, claiming that its air force has destroyed about 20 more air defense system targets during ongoing operations.

“Over the past day, the Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed 8 Buk M-1 combat vehicles, S-300 and Buk M-1 air defense systems, 3 radio engineering positions with P-14 stations, 4 combat aircraft on the ground and one combat aircraft shot down in the air," Igor Konashenkov, the ministry spokesman, told a daily press briefing in Moscow.

“Russian aviation has gained air supremacy over the entire territory of Ukraine,” Konashenkov claimed.

The Russian armed forces have also taken control of the cities of Berdyansk and Energodar in southern Ukraine, as well as of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant located in the region, he added.

"The Russian servicemen provide full security to the territory around Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

"The NPP personnel continues to work on maintenance of facilities and monitoring of the radioactive situation in the normal mode. The radioactive background is normal," he noted.

The number of disabled objects of Ukraine's military infrastructure rose to 1,114 over the past day, with 31 control and communications centers, 314 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 57 multiple rocket launchers, 121 field artillery and mortars, and 274 units of destroyed special military vehicles, Konashenkov said.

The forces of the rebel regions of Donbas advanced for about 19 kilometers (around 12 miles) and took under control five settlements, he added.

Konashenkov also urged Kyiv residents to leave the city via the Kyiv-Vasilkov highway, claiming that "this direction is open and safe."

He stressed that they should not be a "human shield for nationalists who have placed artillery units and military equipment in residential quarters."

"Armed gangs of looters, robbers, and nationalists who received weapons as a result of the criminal decision of the authorities to distribute them uncontrollably to the population, are rampaging in Kyiv.

"I want to emphasize once again that the armed forces of the Russian Federation strike only at military facilities. Nothing threatens the civilian population," he said.

The information about "Russian infiltrators" working in Ukraine's capital is untrue, he said.