Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected command posts of Russian troops in Ukraine's Donetsk region, his ministry said on October 25, during a working visit close to the war's front lines. Shoigu, savagely criticized by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin until the latter was killed in a plane crash in August, has been shown several times this month in televised clips designed to project confidence about the state of Russia's war inside Ukraine. Ukraine says Russian forces in recent days have been pounding the eastern city of Avdiyivka but have sustained heavy losses.
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