Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited the war-torn southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, his ministry said Monday, a year after its forces besieged and shaved the city.
Then comes his visit Russian forces are approaching the city of Bakhmut, which has become the longest battleground in eastern Ukraine. Russian intervention in Ukraine.
According to the ministry, one of the highest-ranking officials to visit eastern Ukraine came to oversee the reconstruction of the destroyed port city of Shoigu.
Shoigu “The Ministry of Defense inspected the ongoing infrastructure restoration works in Donbass,” the ministry said without specifying the time of the visit.
He visited the medical center built by the military, the dispatch center of the Ministry of Emergencies, as well as an area with dozens of newly built five-story residential buildings.
Russia last year, at the beginning of the campaign against Mariupol, they destroyed the Azovstal metallurgical plant, which was the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in the city.
Investigative teams linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have reported that Defense Ministry officials are personally benefiting from the recovery efforts in Mariupol.
The ministry’s announcement came a day after Shoigu reportedly met with Russian soldiers stationed at a “command post” in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s efforts to capture Bakhmut were led on the ground by the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
Its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin ally, regularly criticizes the Defense Ministry in videos on social media purported to be from the front.
Experts say that while Bakhmut was one of the bloodiest battles of the war, any conquest of the salt city Russia Gives Moscow several additional strategic advantages in the Donbass.
Russian news
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