Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that Moscow will strengthen its army by adding two new corps and 30 new units by the end of this year, News.ro reported.

“By the end of the year, it is planned to form two armored combined-arms corps and thirty units, of which 14 divisions and 16 brigades,” Shoigu said at a meeting of the leadership of the ministry headed by him.

“We will continue to further improve the combat and numerical component of the Russian army in proportion to emerging threats to the country’s military security,” said the minister, quoted by Interfax.

“An army corps, a motorized rifle division, a Dnipro river flotilla and a brigade of flotilla river boats have been formed,” Shoigu said.

Russia is “afraid” of “increasing threats to its address related to the continued expansion of NATO”

At the beginning of the month, the Minister of Defense stated that the Moscow and Leningrad Military Districts were formed by presidential decree.

In 2010, the Western Military District was created on the basis of the Moscow and Leningrad Military Districts.

According to the decree of Vladimir Putin at the end of last year, the maximum strength of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was increased by 170,000 servicemen to 1,320,000 people. Meanwhile, Moscow called up hundreds of thousands of people for military service.

The Russian Ministry of Defense explained that “the increase in the number of the Armed Forces is connected with the growth of threats to the country associated with the conduct of a special military operation and the continuous expansion of NATO.”

Last January, in an interview with the aif.ru website, the head of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, stated that the reason for adjusting the plan for the development of the Russian Armed Forces was the desire of Finland and Sweden to join NATO. , as well as using Ukraine to wage a hybrid war against Russia.

“To neutralize these threats, the top leadership of the country has set the task of adjusting the plan for the construction and development of the Armed Forces. The main parameters (…) are the creation of the Moscow and Leningrad military districts, the formation of three motorized rifle divisions as part of the combined military units in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and as well as the army corps in Karelia,” Gerasimov said at the time.

Shoigu claims that the Russian army is pushing Ukrainian troops out of their positions

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, quickly pulled back some of its forces in the east and south after it spread too far, but has since advanced slowly, especially after a Ukrainian counteroffensive last year failed to make much headway.

Russia controls just under a fifth of Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin ordered troops to step up the offensive after Moscow captured the small eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiyivka last month.

Since the 2022 invasion, Russia has occupied 65,000 square kilometers of Ukraine, according to the Harvard Kennedy School’s Russia Matters project.

“Groups of Russian troops continue to dislodge the enemy from his positions,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday to high-ranking generals of the Russian army. “The United States and its satellites are extremely concerned about the success of the Russian armed forces,” he said, quoted by Reuters.

“The joint military group will continue to develop the achieved successes and increase combat fire against the enemy’s targets,” Shoigu assured.

Western intelligence chiefs say the war could be a turning point as Kiev needs more weapons from its Western allies to avoid further setbacks on the battlefield. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s survival is at risk.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is debating a new mobilization law as it faces a shortage of combat-ready troops and support from Washington has been blocked by political disputes ahead of the US presidential election in November.

In the run-up to Russia’s March 15-17 presidential election, Ukraine stepped up its attacks, bombing Russia’s border regions, attacking oil refineries and using Russian nationalist volunteers to try to break through the border.

On Wednesday, Shoigu said that security has been increased around the Russian government and other facilities, as well as air defenses.

According to him, during the elections, Russia shot down 419 Ukrainian drones and 67 missiles and caused heavy losses to Ukrainian militants.

At the same time, Putin said that Russia would punish Ukraine for these attacks and spoke about the need to create a buffer zone with Ukrainian territory to protect against artillery strikes from the West.

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