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Vladimir Putin has visited his top brass conducting the war in Ukraine to demand better results from them.
The Russian president was spotted with General Valery Gerasimov, head of the country’s armed forces, following reports that Ukraine had made territorial gains on the southeastern front.
A brief statement from the Kremlin said: ‘Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operation group in Rostov-on-Don.’
The statement did not make clear when the visit happened.
Rostov-on-Don, a city just some 100 kilometres (62 miles)from Ukraine’s border, is home to the Russian southern military district command whose army is fighting in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin met with top general Valery Gerasimov and other top brass to discuss the war in Ukraine (Picture: East2West)
Putin has remained loyal to Gerasimov in recent months, despite the general receiving savage criticism in recent months from Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and some Russian military bloggers over Russia’s failings in the war.
Defence minister Sergei Shoigu also appeared to be absent from the session amid indications he is on ‘vacation’ in Siberia.
Putin is believed to be exasperated at the failure of his armed forces to make more headway against Kyiv, which has begun to make progress after an underwhelming start to its counteroffensive.
With Ukraine struggling to break through entrenched Russian lines and Moscow’s stretched military resources and dissent in the ranks, both sides have measured recent successes by taking control of tiny villages.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian military said it had liberated the small village of Urozhaine in the Donetsk region, pushing forward in its drive towards the Sea of Azov to potentially cut the Russian land bridge to Crimea – vital for Moscow’s supply routes.
Kyiv has also increased pressure on Russia itself with regular drone and missile attacks behind the frontline, including drone strikes on capital city Moscow.
Putin is determined to switch Russia to massive military drone production and the training of operators, starting immediately.
The meeting comes following news of Ukrainian gains on the frontlines (Picture: East2West)
His regime has ordered vocational schools to crank up the training of drone operators to the level of one million a year.
This was needed due to the ‘new geopolitical situation’, said deputy industry minister Vasily Osmakov referring to the war in Ukraine and deep tensions with the West.
The target was specified this week by Putin officials who listed UAV operators as a new priority profession.
Putin’s loyalist education minister Sergey Kravtsov has ordered vocational colleges to urgently offer Drone Studies courses.
Russia has imported drones on a vast scale from Iran, and they are used almost daily to wreak havoc in Ukraine.
But Putin now wants not only his own skilled operators but a domestic production base .
A target has been set of manufacturing at least one million drones a year in Russia.
One million drone operators would mean that one in every 143 Russians would be qualified to fly drones.
According to a recent assessment by The New York Times, over 500,000 have been killed or wounded on both sides in the war.
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The meeting comes following news of a Ukrainian breakthrough in the south-east.