The head of the Russian Ministry of Defense Sergei Shoigu inspected the Russian group of troops “Center” in the Northern Military District zone, the press service of the defense department reported.

During the visit, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry heard reports from the commander of the Center group of troops and headquarters officers on the current situation, enemy actions and the performance of combat missions by the Russian Armed Forces.

As the commander of the group, Colonel General Andrei Mordvichev, noted, during the operation to liberate Avdeevka, the enemy was thrown back from their positions by more than 10 km.

It is noted that Russian troops continue their offensive in their directions.

Shoigu noted the importance of proactively providing the group’s troops with everything they need and spoke about the role of drones in combat operations.

He also added that it is planned to supply the troops with UAVs, which are controlled using artificial intelligence technologies.

“We've come to this.

This is becoming a pretty serious weapon,” Shoigu said.

Mordvichev, in turn, noted the increased effectiveness of the Russian Armed Forces’ use of reconnaissance-strike and reconnaissance-fire complexes.

According to him, in the last two weeks alone in the Avdeevsky direction, UAVs destroyed more than 700 different enemy targets, including armored vehicles, artillery systems, radar equipment, as well as manpower.

Along with this, the commander of the Center group of troops noted that, in accordance with Shoigu’s instructions, regular UAV units with reconnaissance and attack vehicles have been formed in formations and units.

In addition, the head of the Ministry of Defense was also presented with samples of foreign captured military equipment captured by the Russian military during a special operation.

Using the example of the US-made M113 armored personnel carrier, Russian military personnel noted the shortcomings of Western equipment, in particular in matters of maneuverability.

“The disadvantage of this car is its poor cross-country ability.

This applies to almost all European vehicles in our conditions,” the press service of the Ministry of Defense quotes the words of the deputy commander of the Central Military District, Lieutenant General Evgeny Tsindyaykin.

“If we analyze the entire range on display, we are faced in full with the entire military-industrial potential of NATO,” he also noted.

“The whole world understands that the best machine gun is a Kalashnikov, no, they’re still trying,” Shoigu said in turn.

Among other things, the head of the Ministry of Defense was informed about the mass surrender of Ukrainian Armed Forces military personnel in Avdiivka.

According to the Center group of troops, after the clearing of the city, about 200 prisoners were recorded, and about 100 more Ukrainian military personnel are expected to arrive.

Shoigu responded by noting the importance of humane treatment of prisoners.

“You heard what the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces said: humanely, as it has always been,” Shoigu emphasized.

The work of assault groups in Avdeevka

The Russian Ministry of Defense also published footage of the work of assault groups of the 1st Army Corps of the Russian Armed Forces, which shows the former command post of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the Avdeevka coke plant.

As the defense department clarified, during an inspection of the plant’s workshops, where Ukrainian Armed Forces militants had previously taken refuge, abandoned UAV control posts with Starlink global satellite system terminals, dozens of anti-tank grenade launchers made by NATO countries, hand grenades, automatic weapons, cartridges and dry rations were found.

It is noted that Russian attack aircraft entered the Ukrainian positions without losses, carried out a clean-up operation and raised the Russian flag on the roof of one of the enterprise buildings.