The generals reported to Shoigu on the actions of the Center troops after the liberation of Avdeevka

The offensive continues, trophies are taken, more than 200 prisoners

On the eve of the second anniversary of the start of the Northern Military District, the head of the military department, Sergei Shoigu, inspected the Russian group of troops “Center”, commanded by Colonel General Andrei Mordvichev. On February 24, the Ministry of Defense published a video of the minister’s trip. On the trip, the minister was accompanied by First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy.

Judging by the reports of the generals, the troops of the Center group continued offensive operations after February 17, when Avdiivka was liberated. At the same time, attacks are being launched on the Ukrainian reserves deployed to this area to contain Russian forces.

Andrei Mordvichev reported that “the intensity of enemy artillery work has not decreased,” so there is no need to talk about a shell famine in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Sergei Shoigu demanded that our troops be provided with everything they need, including drones. He said that the troops will soon receive drones, which, thanks to artificial intelligence technologies, will be able to independently, without the participation of an operator, select and hit targets. “We have come to this. This is becoming quite a serious weapon,” the minister said.

According to the command, in the Avdeevsky direction alone, in two weeks, strike drones destroyed more than 700 different targets, including armored vehicles, artillery pieces, radar stations and enemy personnel. The Orlan-30 drone performed well.

Full-time units for the use of reconnaissance and attack drones have been created in brigades and regiments. The task has been set to strengthen the group with electronic warfare (EW) means at the tactical level.

As the minister was informed, about two hundred Ukrainian Armed Forces military personnel surrendered in Avdeevka. “In the coming days we plan to pick out about a hundred more prisoners (during the cleanup),” Mordvichev said. Shoigu recalled President Putin’s instructions on the need for a humane treatment of prisoners.

He also examined the trophies – equipment and weapons that the Ukrainian Armed Forces abandoned in Avdiivka. Among the trophies are American and Turkish armored vehicles, Croatian grenade launchers. Deputy Commander of the Central Military District, Lieutenant General Yevgeny Tsindyaykin spoke about the shortcomings of the American M113 armored personnel carrier – poor maneuverability. “This applies to almost all European vehicles in our conditions,” the general said.

According to him, during the Northern Military District we “are fully confronted with the entire military-industrial potential of NATO.” To which Shoigu remarked: “The whole world understands that the best machine gun is a Kalashnikov, no, they’re still trying.”

The Russian special military operation began on the orders of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022.