TSAMTO, May 20. On May 20, a conference call with the leadership of the Armed Forces was held at the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation under the leadership of the head of the military department, Army General Sergei Shoigu.
The main theses of S. Shoigu's report are given below in the presentation of the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Opening the meeting, the Defense Minister spoke about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine.
Groups of the Russian Armed Forces, together with units of the People's militia of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics, continue to expand control over the territories of Donbass. The liberation of the Luhansk People's Republic is nearing completion.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine, trying to delay the advance of Russian troops, do not let local residents out of cities and settlements and use them as human shields.
Suffering defeat on the "ground", the Kiev regime seeks to achieve at least short-term successes in some areas, passing them off as major ones.
On the eve of Victory Day, the Ukrainian authorities made an adventurous attempt to seize the island of Zmeiny. This dubious action turned into a complete failure. The Russian Armed Forces liquidated more than 50 servicemen of the elite units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In three days, four enemy aircraft, 10 helicopters, 30 unmanned aerial vehicles and three boats were destroyed.
"Any provocations will continue to be severely suppressed," the head of the Russian military department stressed.
Currently, the blocking of the Azovstal plant continues. Civilians who were held there by Ukrainian nationalists were evacuated from the territory of the plant. 177 people were rescued, including 85 women and 47 children. Qualified medical and psychological assistance was provided to everyone.
The nationalists blocked at the plant began to surrender. At the moment, 1908 people have laid down their arms. Before that, 1,387 Marines laid down their weapons there.
The Defense Minister noted that the Russian Armed Forces are doing everything to prevent the death of civilians. Humanitarian corridors are constantly working for this purpose.
Since the beginning of the special military operation, more than 1 million 377 thousand people have been evacuated from dangerous areas of the People's republics, as well as from Ukraine to Russia.
"I want to thank the personnel for their professionalism, courage and heroism in solving the tasks set by the Supreme Commander–in-Chief," said Army General Sergei Shoigu.
Turning to the thematic part of the meeting, the head of the military Department proposed to consider the progress of the implementation of the plan of activities in the Western Military District in terms of the implementation of the May decrees of the President of the Russian Federation and his instructions following the meetings in Sochi.
The situation in the Western Strategic direction is characterized by an increase in military threats near the Russian borders.
Over the past eight years, the intensity of US strategic bomber aviation flights in Europe has increased 15-fold.
The visits of American ships with guided missile weapons to the Baltic Sea have become systematic. Only this year, near the Kaliningrad region, they performed tasks six times with access to the intended launch areas of cruise missiles. Since 2016, 24 such events have been opened by the objective control system.
At the same time, the United States and NATO are increasing the scale of operational and combat training at our borders. Currently, a series of exercises "Defender of Europe" is being held with the participation of up to 40 thousand military personnel from 30 countries of the bloc. The main feature of the maneuvers is the transfer of a full-fledged division from the United States to the European continent, as well as the deployment of a group of troops in three strategic directions: the Arctic, Western and Southwestern.
In addition, our closest neighbors, Finland and Sweden, have applied to join NATO.
Thus, tensions continue to increase in the area of responsibility of the Western Military District. We are taking measures of adequate counteraction.
In these conditions, we are actively improving the combat strength of the troops. By the end of the year, 12 military units and subunits will be formed in the Western Military District.
The organizational measures carried out are synchronized with the supply of modern weapons and military equipment to the troops. This year it is planned to receive more than 2 thousand such samples.
Control checks based on the results of the winter training period showed a qualitative increase in the level of training of the district units compared to the previous year by 25%.
The intensity of working out combat training tasks by the ships of the Baltic Fleet increased by 42%. More than three hundred combat exercises have been performed using various types of weapons. The air raid of the district has increased by 4% since the beginning of the year.
The second issue on the agenda of the conference call was devoted to the draft program for equipping the Aerospace Forces and Navy with complexes with medium- and long-range unmanned aerial vehicles until 2030.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are actively used by the Armed Forces to solve a wide range of tasks.
Over the past 10 years, the intensity of their flights has increased 7 times, the annual flight time has increased 23 times.
Since 2015, unmanned aircraft have been monitoring the situation around the clock almost throughout Syria. Since the beginning of the Syrian operation, more than 58 thousand flights have been carried out, while the total flight time exceeded 377 thousand hours.
During a special military operation in Ukraine, unmanned aerial vehicles conduct aerial reconnaissance and, in conditions of dense urban development, inflict selective pinpoint strikes on enemy targets, preventing damage to civilian infrastructure and the death of civilians. During the operation, the flight has already amounted to more than 25 thousand hours.
The information obtained by drones is transmitted to consumers in real time. This allows the troops to react quickly to changes in the situation and act as efficiently as possible.
The army and navy continue to receive modern complexes with unmanned aerial vehicles for operational purposes.
"Delivery of strategic drones is expected in the near future. Their use will save the flight crew and significantly reduce the cost of solving reconnaissance and firing tasks by reducing the consumption of ammunition and the resource of aircraft," the Defense Minister said.
