Moscow to increase missile strikes on Kyiv targets

This photo shows a view of the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 24, 2022. (EMILIO MORENATTI / AP)

MOSCOW – Russia will expand the scale of its missile strikes on Kyiv in response to any Ukrainian forces' attacks or sabotage on Russian territory, the country's defense ministry said Friday.

"Russian troops and forces of the Donetsk People's Republic have taken control of the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works in the city of Mariupol as a result of a successful offensive," Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a daily briefing.

Russian troops and forces of the Donetsk People's Republic have taken control of the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works in the city of Mariupol as a result of a successful offensive.

  Igor Konashenkov, Defense Ministry spokesman

The Russian forces used high-precision sea-based Kalibr missiles to strike a military facility on the outskirts of Kiev, he added.

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According to the ministry, Russian forces have destroyed 132 aircraft, 105 helicopters, 245 anti-aircraft missile systems, 456 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,213 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 249 multiple rocket launchers, 966 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,110 units of special military vehicles of the Ukrainian forces. 

Russia expels 18 EU diplomats

Russia expelled 18 European Union diplomats on Friday in a retaliatory move, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry had summoned head of the EU Delegation to Russia Markus Ederer in a protest over the EU's decision to declare 19 Russian diplomats "personae non gratae" earlier this month, the statement said.

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"In response to the hostile actions of the European Union, 18 employees working at the EU Delegation to Russia have been declared 'personae non gratae' and will have to leave the territory of the Russian Federation in the near future," the ministry said. 

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