Russian Defense Minister: We will deal with NATO vehicles delivering military supplies in Ukraine as military targets

MOSCOW, May 05 (YPA) – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday that “any vehicle of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that arrives in Ukraine with weapons or material for the needs of the Ukrainian armed forces is considered by Russia as “a legitimate target for destruction.”

“The United States and its NATO allies continue to pump weapons into Ukraine,” the Russian minister said in a statement carried by the Russian news agency Novosti.

“ Our demand to release civilians from the Azovstal compound and lay down their weapons  had been ignored by Ukrainian nationalists,” he said.

“Repeated proposals by nationalists to release civilians and lay down arms, while ensuring that lives are saved and properly treated in accordance with international law, have been ignored,” he added.

Russian troops together with the forces of Lugansk and Donetsk are controlling more areas of Donbass, and they will continue to fulfill their tasks, according to the minister.

For the safe evacuation of civilians from combat zones, humanitarian corridors are opened daily, he said, adding that the Russian armed forces are actively providing humanitarian assistance to residents living in cities controlled by the forces.

E.M