(Reuters) – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday his country was inflicting heavy blows on Ukraine across the front line but that the arms supply was crucial to ensuring the success of what Moscow calls its “special military operation”.
At a meeting with Russia’s top military officials, Shoigu said Russian forces were engaged in combat operations “along the entire line of contact” and were fighting not only against Ukraine but also against “unsupported military assistance”. Western precedents.
However, he said that Russia was successfully targeting Ukrainian depots that stored Western-supplied weapons.
Shoigu said that Moscow had taken steps to increase its weapons production to support the war, as he said the success of Russian forces on the battlefield “would largely depend on the timely replenishment of weapons” and other military equipment.
“The country’s leadership has set defense companies the task of increasing the pace and volume of production in a short time,” Shoigu said, according to a transcript of his comments published by his ministry.
Shoigu said the army has all the necessary ammunition for use on the battlefield this year, but has asked a major rocket producer to urgently double its production of high-precision missiles.
In recent days, Russia has killed and injured dozens of people in its biggest attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks.
On Monday, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose troops are leading the attack on the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, renewed his accusation that the Ministry of Defense is not providing enough ammunition for its fighters. Prigozhin said he needed 300 tons a day of artillery ammunition but was getting only a third of that.
(Reporting by Reuters)
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