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Russian Minister of Defense, Sergey Shoigu, visited troops on the front line. Photo/Reuters
MOSCOW – Defense Minister Russia inspect troops in the front line area in Ukraine east, after United States of America (US) offered more support to Kiev, whose forces are fighting in eastern Bakhmut.
“Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected the forward command post to the south of the Donetsk region,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, without specifying where or when it was carried out.
The ministry also released a rare video of Shoigu traveling in a helicopter and talking to a soldier in front of the damaged building.
“Minister Shoigu handed over state awards to servicemen and held a meeting with his deputies to arrange for the uninterrupted supply of troops with arms, military hardware and weapons,” the ministry said later.
The visit comes amid fierce ongoing fighting around Bakhmut, the longest fighting in the conflict, which has further exposed the rivalry between the conventional army and the paramilitary Wagner Group.
Wagner Group Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on Friday said his fighters were “almost surrounded” Bakhmut.
Well-versed in social media, Prigozhin has for weeks been publicizing the progress of his men towards the eastern city, whose symbolic importance transcends any military significance.
Prigozhin regularly posts videos of himself with mercenaries, on the ground or even in fighter jets, in contrast to the Russian general who has been criticized for negligence at the front.
In his latest video last Friday, Prigozhin directly called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to leave Bakhmut, which Russia is determined to seize as part of a broader goal to seize the entire Donetsk region.
