Russia announced on Tuesday that it would make „major changes” to its armed forces between 2023 and 2026, pledging to overhaul its military structure after months of record failures on the battlefield in Ukraine, Reuters writes, Agerpres reads.

In addition to administrative reforms, the Russian Defense Ministry said it will strengthen the combat capabilities of its naval, aerospace and strategic missile forces.

„Only by strengthening the key structural components of the Armed Forces is it possible to guarantee the military security of the state and defend the new entities and critical facilities of the Russian Federation”, said the Minister of Defense, Serghei Şoigu.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained that these changes became necessary as a result of the „proxy war” being waged in Ukraine by the West, which is sending increasingly powerful weaponry to Ukraine to help it resist Russian forces.

In December, the Russian Ministry of Defense, criticized in the country for the ineffectiveness of its efforts to take control of important territories in Ukraine, pledged to increase the number of military personnel to 1.5 million people.

The leadership of the ministry has undergone numerous changes in the 11 months since the launch of what Moscow calls a „special military operation” and in which Russian forces initially conquered important areas in the south and east of Ukraine, only to later record a series of defeats and retreats painful, Reuters notes.

Last week, Serghei Shoigu appointed army general Valeri Gerasimov, head of the General Staff, to head the campaign in Ukraine.

On Friday, the Defense Ministry said it had taken control of Soledar, a small town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region known for its salt mines that had been targeted by Russian forces for several weeks.

Agerpres