The adviser to the chairman of the government of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Yan Gagin, told Sputnik that the Ukrainian troops have applied the scorched earth tactics, destroying civilian infrastructure during their retreat.

"When retreating, the enemy tries to apply the scorched earth tactics. It deliberately destroys city infrastructure, its life support. It deliberately destroys certain houses, including residential ones. And it is not interested at all in how these people, namely the civilian population, will live there later," the spokesperson said.

Furthermore, Yan Gagin stated that residents of the liberated territories will be free to leave Ukraine if they so desire, and no one will stop them.

Earlier in the day, the DPR authorities announced that troops had retaken control of over 85 settlements previously seized by Ukrainian armed forces.

On Friday, the Russian defense ministry revealed that Ukrainian nationalists had deployed mines on the city's roads, and they are opening fire randomly in the streets to force civilians to stay inside their homes.

National Defense Management Center chief Mikhail Mizintsev told reporters that "so far, neo-Nazis in Ukraine have more than 7,000 citizens from 21 countries as hostages, and they are using them as human shields."

He also revealed that Kiev's forces blew up the Institute of Physics and Technology's research facility in Kharkov, in a bid to hide research about nuclear activities, and "50 employees are still under the rubble."

The Russian statements come in light of a special military operation launched for several reasons, such as NATO's eastward expansion, the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass, and the killing of the people of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, in addition to Moscow wanting to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine.