The Ukrainian military is employing barrier troops, blocking units, or anti-retreat forces mainly hardline nationalists, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

During a media briefing on Monday, Defense Ministry spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov said that Ukrainian barrier troops blew up a road bridge in the town of Svyatogorsk in the northern part of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The operation left the Ukrainian military most notably "remnants of the battalions of the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade and the 81st Separate Airborne Brigade" sieged.

“Cut off from the main forces and supply lines due to the destruction of the bridge, [the troops] abandoned military equipment and their weaponry and scattered along the bank” of the Seversky Donets river, Konashenkov said.

Furthermore, the Russian official called “on all military personnel and members of the territorial defense units of Ukraine to follow this example and stop thoughtless resistance in order to save their lives.” 

So far, Ukraine has made no comment on the events in Svyatogorsk, according to the Russian military.

On Sunday, Russian defense ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov revealed that Russia has destroyed tanks that were provided by eastern European countries to Ukraine during their operation in Kiev.

As of May 29, Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed that the Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed a large arsenal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) at a storage site in Krivoi Rog using high-precision, long-range missiles.

The Ministry highlighted that in total, some 183 Ukrainian aircraft and 128 helicopters, 1,049 unmanned aerial vehicles, 325 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,309 tanks, and other armored combat vehicles, 447 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,722 field artillery and mortars, and 3,270 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed during the war in Ukraine.