Sergei Shoigu outlines Russia's goals in special military operation for 2024

The Russian Armed Forces will continue the special military operation in Ukraine in 2024 until all of its goals and tasks are achieved in full, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said during an extended meeting of the board of the ministry.

According to Shoigu, priority tasks for the next year are as follows:

• to continue the special military operation until the tasks determined by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief are fully completed;
• to conduct high-quality training of newly formed units;
• to coordinate formations and military units.

The Russian Armed Forces should also conduct combat training activities taking into account the threat of NATO's further expansion to the east.

In addition, it is planned to put the Sarmat strategic missile system on combat duty, the Defence Minister said.

On December 1, the Russian Ministry of Defence launched the process to increase the strength of the Russian Armed Forces, Sergei Shoigu announced during the meeting.

"From December 1, we proceeded to implement instructions to build up the Armed Forces to 1 million 320 thousand people,” the minister said.

Army recruitment plans have been completed, he added.

"All plans for recruiting the army and the navy have been completed in full this year. The army strength has been increased to 1 million 150 thousand military personnel,” Shoigu said.