The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has been broadcasting for 3 days that Shoigu is allegedly in Ukraine. He flies to areas where the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine can begin | VIDEO

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu allegedly visited military facilities in the combat zone in Ukraine for the third day in a row. «News Agency» writes about this.

So, on March 6, the Ministry of Defense reported that Shoigu visited the temporarily occupied Mariupol. In particular, the department showed footage showing the minister on board a helicopter, allegedly on the street of a settlement and in the building of a medical center.

On March 4, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that Shoigu visited the zone of the “special operation”, including inspecting the forward control post of one of the formations of the Vostok group of troops in the South Donetsk direction and heard a report from the commander of the group Rustam Muradov. It was the units subordinate to Muradov who participated in the unsuccessful attempts to storm Ugledar.

On Sunday, Shoigu, according to the department, held a meeting with the commanders of the groups in the “special operation” zone. The Ministry of Defense did not specify where the meeting took place. However, an analysis of the video published by the military shows that the meeting was held at the headquarters of the troops of the Southern Military District (SMD) in Rostov-on-Don, writes «Agency».

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) admitted on Saturday that Shoigu's visit to the command post of the Vostok group of troops may indicate that the leadership of the Ministry of Defense does not trust the head of the General Staff and the commander of the “special operation” Valery Gerasimov. Analysts noted that it was Gerasimov who was supposed to make such a visit, or at least accompany Shoigu. The visit of the Russian Defense Minister to the Donbass may undermine the position of the Chief of the General Staff.

But, perhaps, Shoigu's trips around the south of the Donetsk region have another explanation, «Agency» notes. Russian Telegram channels began discussing the possible direction of the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The creator of the telegram channel WarGonzo, Semyon Pegov, admits that the occupied Mariupol will become the target of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, the former Minister of State Security of the self-proclaimed DPR, Alexander Khodakovsky, wrote that Kyiv was probably preparing an attack on Melitopol, located 200 kilometers away, “to undermine morale and disrupt logistics.”