Valery GerasimovChief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, was shown by the Ministry of Defense listening to a report on the Ukrainian missile attacks, in what is his first public appearance since the failed Wagner group riot on June 24.
The Defense Ministry said the footage showed Gerasimov in a meeting on Sunday. Sitting in a military command room on a white leather seat, he is seen speaking with top generals and issuing orders, including the head of military intelligence (GRU).
Defense used his current title, chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces and commander of the joint group of forces in Ukraine. “The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Army General Valery Gerasimov, entrusted the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate and the heads of the command post of the combined group with the task of organizing systematic work to identify the storage and training sites, as well as the launch positions for S-200 missiles and similar enemy attack weapons, and plan their preemptive defeat,” the Defense Ministry stated.
The authorities installed by Moscow in the Crimean peninsula reported on Sunday having shot down a cruise missile near the city of Kerch and the temporary suspension of traffic on the nearby bridge that links that annexed territory with Russia.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has managed to recover a total of 24 square kilometers in the surroundings of the city of Bakhmut, located on the eastern front and almost entirely occupied by Russia, the Ukrainian army announced.