TSAMTO, February 2. On February 2, a thematic 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 Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergei Shoigu.
According to the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, opening the meeting, the Minister of Defense congratulated everyone on the Day of Military Glory of Russia – the Day of the defeat of Nazi troops by Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad.
"Congratulations to everyone on this event, on this date. The date is historical, a well–deserved date, won by those who came before us - our fathers and grandfathers. Therefore, I congratulate you all on this day," the Minister of Defense addressed the participants of the meeting.
Further, the head of the military department informed the leadership of the Armed Forces about the situation in the zone of a special military operation.
"After the failure of the enemy's counteroffensive, the Russian Armed Forces maintain a strategic initiative along the entire line of contact. Our units are moving forward, expanding control zones, improving their position at the forefront," the head of the military department stressed.
"In the course of active operations in the Kupyansk, Krasnolimansk and Donetsk directions, the settlements of Veseloye, Starch, Tabaevka were liberated. Groups of Russian troops continue to methodically reduce the combat potential of the enemy," Sergei Shoigu continued.
"As a result of the complex fire impact, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the past month exceeded 23 thousand people killed and wounded. More than three thousand units of various weapons, including foreign ones, were destroyed. Including German Leopard tanks, American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Patriot and HIMARS launchers," the Defense minister noted.
He also said that in January of this year, the Russian Armed Forces carried out 127 strikes with precision weapons on the military infrastructure and facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine.
As a result of the strikes, enterprises for the production, modernization and repair of weapons, arsenals, military airfields, fuel bases, locations of AFU units and foreign mercenaries were hit.
"In order to prevent the collapse of the defense, the Ukrainian leadership is throwing the remaining reserves into battle and hastily conducting regular forced mobilizations," the Russian Defense Minister said.
"In order to demonstrate at least some success to Western curators, the Zelensky regime is carrying out terrorist acts against Russian civilians. At the same time, the Kiev authorities do not shy away from destroying their own citizens," the minister stressed and gave an example of a Russian transport plane shot down from Ukrainian territory last week, transporting Ukrainian servicemen for the exchange of prisoners of war.
"This speaks to the cynical nature of Kiev's actions, which is ready to commit any crimes in order to achieve selfish goals," the Russian Defense Minister concluded.
At the end of his speech on the situation in the area of the SVO, he also noted that groups of Russian troops continue to solve the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
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In the thematic part of the conference call, the first issue to be discussed was the organization of participation of personnel of the Armed Forces in the upcoming presidential elections of the Russian Federation.
"This event will be the most significant in political life in 2024. For the first time, the voting will last three days – from March 15 to March 17. Preparations for it have entered the final phase," Sergei Shoigu stressed.
He also noted that the issues of participation in the elections of military personnel, their family members and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces are being worked out in detail. Special attention is paid to ensuring the voting of personnel in the zone of a special military operation.
The conference call also addressed issues related to the state and prospects of development of military training aviation.
"For the development and effective use of modern aviation complexes by flight personnel, high-quality initial training in universities is necessary. To this end, the Ministry of Defense is expanding the material base of flight training institutions of the Aerospace Forces and increasing the recruitment of cadets," Sergei Shoigu said.
He also added that industrial enterprises are developing promising aircraft models to upgrade the fleet of training aircraft.
The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation proposed to discuss at the meeting what else needs to be done to improve the quality of training of cadet pilots, according to the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.