Video shows ministers in uniform
Shoigu visiting troops in southern Ukraine
May 19, 2023, 6:40 p.m
During a visit to the occupied Zaporizhia region, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu praised Ukraine’s “high efficiency in identifying and destroying military material and troops”. It was not his first visit to the front.
According to his own statements, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited a command post in the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia. In a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry, Shoigu can be seen in a military uniform with senior commanders. You can also see the minister presenting medals to Russian soldiers and thanking them for their “service on land”.
When and where exactly the visit took place was not disclosed. The video was also difficult to verify independently, since after a short helicopter flight sequence, during which the Shoigu cannot be seen, only images of the defense minister in closed and camouflage rooms and corridors are shown. According to the ministry, Shoigu praised the military for Ukraine’s “high efficiency in identifying and destroying military material and troops.”
Shoigu had already inspected a command post in the eastern Donetsk region in early March and visited a military hospital in Mariupol. Analysts keep mentioning the Zaporizhia region as a possible location for the major offensive that Kiev says it is preparing.
While the pictures of Shoigu were being released in Ukraine, further east fighting raged on in and around Bakhmut. According to their own accounts, the Ukrainian troops gained ground in counterattacks around the city. “The enemy is continuing its assaults inside the city,” said Ukrainian Army Group East spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyy on state television. The Ukrainian units, on the other hand, put pressure on the Russian troops outside the city and continued to advance there.
Medvedev: 117,000 new volunteers and contract soldiers
The Russian army is said to have received an influx of around 117,000 volunteers and contract soldiers since January. This was announced by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the National Security Council, according to the Ria Novosti agency at a meeting on recruitment measures. “We continue to work with them on augmenting the Russian armed forces with contract staff within the framework of the President’s instructions in this regard,” he said.
Exact figures on the strength and repositioning of the Russian army are difficult to obtain in view of the war of aggression. Russia usually recruits new soldiers twice a year, but recently thousands of young men have avoided military service by fleeing abroad.