The Ukrainian government forces will not use aviation to fire against the militant positions in Donetsk and Luhansk, said Andriy Lysenko, a spokesperson for the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).
“The tactic of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, National Guard and Border Guard Service consists in ruling out massive bombing of the populated areas,” Lysenko said at a briefing on Sunday, July 6.
He added that air-to-surface and artillery attacks are only carried out against members of illegal armed formations moving between populated areas and that special-forces units will operate in cities proper.
“The painstaking work within the city is for Ukrainian special forces,” Lysenko said, adding that preserving civilian lives will be the primary task.
The information available to the NSDC suggests that disparate groups and small motorcades of militants, which managed to leave the active hostility zone, have entered Donetsk and continue reinforcing themselves in Luhansk, the NSDC spokesman said.
