Russian official media reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin will make an "important announcement" at the Ministry of Defense meeting next week, while Russia announced that one person was killed and others injured in a Ukrainian bombing that targeted one of its provinces bordering Ukraine in the west of the country.
"We are waiting for important statements," said Pavel Sarobin, presenter of the program "Moscow-The Kremlin-Putin" of the Russian radio and television network "WGTRK" (WGTRK) on Sunday.
According to the programme, Putin will preside over an annual meeting of the Defense Ministry.
The exact date of the meeting is not yet known, but Putin is expected to travel to Minsk on Monday for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
And at a government meeting last week, Putin did indeed request an adjustment to the armaments plans.
He believes he can continue to push the transformation of his private economy into a war economy.
Because of the continuing difficulties in the war, Putin has largely avoided the topic in recent weeks, and also canceled his traditional annual press conference, shortly before Christmas.
Ukrainian bombing inside Russia
In a remarkable field development, the governor of the Russian province of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that one person was killed and another wounded as a result of a Ukrainian targeting a poultry farm in the province, adding that air defense systems intercept targets in the province.
The governor of the border province with Ukraine also confirmed that 4 civilians were injured as a result of the Ukrainian bombing, and the governor also indicated that the bombing caused material damage to 14 residential buildings and 9 cars.
Belgorod is one of many areas in southern Russia where targets such as fuel and ammunition depots have been bombed since the start of what Russia describes as a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24.
Shoigu on the front lines
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited the stationing of Russian forces in Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on its channel on the Telegram application, "The head of the Russian military authority went to the areas where members of the armed forces are stationed, and visited the locations where Russian units are stationed on the front line in the area of the special military operation."
The news was published, accompanied by a video showing Shoigu on board a helicopter.
The statement added on the Telegram application that Shoigu listened to the reports of the commanders, and spoke with the soldiers.
He also thanked them for their "exemplary service".
Russian MoD reported that minister Sergey Shoigu inspected frontline positions of 🇷🇺 units and flew above 🇷🇺 troop deployment areas.
All points that it's a fake.
View from his helicopter's window.
Middle of December, the grass is green in the "special military operation" zone.
pic.twitter.com/cRECvpcHUf
- Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) December 18, 2022
new tally
For its part, Ukraine announced that its armed forces had killed about 98,280 Russian soldiers since the start of the war.
This came in a statement issued by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on its Facebook page, and was reported by the Ukrainian news agency "Ukrinform" today, Sunday.
Since the start of the war, both the Russian and Ukrainian sides announce statistics of the other side's losses, but neither of them acknowledges the statistics of the other side, despite their recognition of losses during the battles.
The Russian position on Patriot missiles
In the latest developments of Washington's intention to provide Kyiv with Patriot air defense missiles, the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said that Washington's sending of Patriot missile systems "surface to air" to Ukraine may have unpredictable consequences.
Antonov stressed that the United States is guided in its relations with Russia by the constant desire to prove itself, as if the ghosts of the Cold War are still roaming the corridors of Washington, as he put it.
In an interview with the American magazine "Newsweek", Antonov asked why Washington is seeking to establish a turbulent region near the Russian borders, expressing his belief that there is what he called "a desire for exclusivity that runs in the blood of the United States," as he put it.