Russia defense minister inspects combat zone in Ukraine: Army

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited a combat zone in Ukraine to inspect a command post and meet senior military officers, the army said Friday.

Shoigu got an update on the situation on the front and “thanked commanders and soldiers... for successful offensive operations” in Lyman in eastern Ukraine, it said, without mentioning when the visit took place.

For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

Television images showed Shoigu in uniform listening to a report presented by General Andrey Mordvichev, the head of the Central Military Unit in Ukraine.

The minister was also shown getting on a Swedish CV90 -- “one of the many armoured vehicles taken during fighting”, the army statement said.

Shoigu last visited the front at the end of June after a failed rebellion by the Russian paramilitary group Wagner fighting along with Moscow’s forces in Ukraine.

Read more:

Blasts, gunfire reported near Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk

Ukraine, US begin talks on security guarantees: Official

Zelenskyy says frontline combat is ‘tough’, but Ukraine is ‘dominating’ Russia