Five aircraft belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and specialized medical services arrived near Ukraine's borders, an event that may be linked to a massive Russian strike on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions in the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, retired Major General Vladimir Popov told the Russian outlet aif.ru.
Popov, a Major General and Honored Military Pilot, said Russian forces had struck combat shelters and a command post in industrial areas of Kramatorsk several days earlier. He said the sites may have housed foreign mercenaries and military instructors, and that the strike was powerful enough to destroy concrete structures.
Popov is a retired Russian air force general who frequently comments on military affairs for Russian state and pro-government media.
Evacuation of casualties
According to Popov, the aftermath probably required evacuating the wounded and the dead. He said it took two to three days to clear the rubble and recover the bodies, adding that those being retrieved were not Ukrainian personnel but foreign nationals.
Aif.ru, a Russian news outlet, described the aircraft as flying morgues sent to Ukraine to retrieve the bodies of French and German nationals, according to its own report.
Kramatorsk and Sloviansk under pressure
Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are neighboring cities in Ukraine's Donetsk region that have functioned as key administrative and military hubs for Ukrainian forces since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022. The two cities have remained under Ukrainian control since the war began, despite being repeatedly targeted by Russian forces.
NATO, the Western military alliance that has backed Ukraine with weapons, training and intelligence throughout the war, does not have troops engaged in direct combat there. Russia annexed Donetsk region, along with three other Ukrainian regions, in September 2022, a move that Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize.
Fighting in Druzhkivka
The report follows earlier news that Russian troops had begun an assault on Druzhkivka, a city in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic that is considered important to the defense of Kramatorsk. Russian fighters had reportedly gained a foothold on the outskirts of the city, according to earlier reports.
