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According to Russian state media, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin will make a major announcement next week at a meeting of the Defense Ministry. “We are waiting for important statements,” said the moderator of the program “Moscow.Kremlin.Putin”, Pavel Sarubin, on the state broadcaster WGTRK on Sunday. Putin will therefore chair the annual expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry.

An exact date for the meeting has not yet been announced. Putin is expected in Minsk on Monday for talks with Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.

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At a government meeting last week, the Kremlin chief had already called for changes to the armament plans. It is considered possible that the 70-year-old will continue to drive the conversion of his own economy to a war economy as his own troops continue to have problems with supplies during the offensive war against Ukraine.

Due to the ongoing difficulties in the war, Putin has largely avoided the topic in recent weeks, also canceling the traditional annual press conference shortly before Christmas.

Shoigu visits Ukraine

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited Russian military positions in Ukraine, officials said. “The head of the Russian military authority flew over the deployment areas of the armed forces and inspected the front positions of the Russian units in the area of ​​the special military operation,” the defense ministry reported on its Telegram channel on Sunday. In Russia, the war against Ukraine is officially called only “special military operation”. The text is accompanied by a video showing Shoigu in the helicopter.

The report goes on to say that Shoigu listened to the commanders’ reports and talked to common soldiers. He also thanked them for their “exemplary performance of duty”. The visit was mainly about supplying the armed forces.

After the partial mobilization imposed by Putin in September, numerous recruits complained that they were not adequately equipped and trained in Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine.

Schoigu had already inspected the front in the summer. In November, the minister was again assigned to the command staff of the units responsible for the war in Ukraine. Putin, on the other hand, has not been at the front since the beginning of the war – unlike his Ukrainian opponent Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who appeared close to the front on several occasions to address the soldiers.

Heat supply restored in Kiev

In the Ukrainian capital Kiev, on the other hand, according to the authorities, the heat supply has been restored two days after massive Russian missile attacks. “The city is resuming all services after the recent shelling, in particular, the heat supply of the capital has been fully restored,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in his Telegram channel on Sunday.

On Friday, the Russian army again intensively shelled Ukraine. In total, the Russian army fired more than 70 rockets. After critical infrastructure objects in Kiev were hit, the electricity, water and heat supply there fell out. Klitschko had already stated on Saturday that the water supply of all households is working again. The temperature in the Ukrainian capital was minus four degrees on Sunday afternoon.

In total, the Russian offensive war has now lasted almost 300 days. After a series of painful military defeats, Moscow began targeting Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure in the fall. The attacks on the energy supply in the winter apparently serve to increase the war-weariness of the Ukrainian population and to persuade Kiev to give up. (t online)