Russia’s Shoigu: Weapons Production Key to Success in Ukraine

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meet in New Delhi, India, April 28, 2023. (Reuters)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meet in New Delhi, India, April 28, 2023. (Reuters)
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Russia’s Shoigu: Weapons Production Key to Success in Ukraine

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meet in New Delhi, India, April 28, 2023. (Reuters)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meet in New Delhi, India, April 28, 2023. (Reuters)

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Russia was inflicting heavy blows to Ukraine across the entire frontline, but that the supply of weapons was crucial to ensuring the success of what Moscow calls its "special military operation".

In a meeting with Russia's top military officials, Shoigu said Russian forces were engaged in combat operations "along the entire line of contact" and were fighting not only Ukraine but also "unprecedented military assistance from the West".

However, he said Russia was successfully attacking Ukrainian depots storing Western-supplied weapons.

Shoigu said Moscow had taken steps to boost its arms production to support the war, as he said Russian forces' success on the battlefield would "largely depend on the timely replenishment of weapons" and other military equipment.

"The country's leadership has set defense enterprises the task of increasing the pace and volume of production in a short time," Shoigu said, according to a transcript of his remarks published by his ministry.

Shoigu said the army had all the ammunition it needed for use on the battlefield this year, but called on a major rocket producer to urgently double its output of high-precision missiles.

Russia has in recent days killed and injured dozens of people in its largest strikes on Ukraine for weeks.

On Monday, the head of the Wagner private militia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose troops are leading the assault on Bakhmut, renewed his accusation that the defense ministry was not supplying enough ammunition to his fighters.

Prigozhin said he needed 300 tons a day of artillery munitions, but was getting only a third of that.



A Massive Explosion and Fire Strikes Iranian Port and Injures Hundreds

This image grab taken from footage released by the state television of IRIBNEWS on April 26, 2025 shows people walking away as smoke billows following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)
This image grab taken from footage released by the state television of IRIBNEWS on April 26, 2025 shows people walking away as smoke billows following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)
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A Massive Explosion and Fire Strikes Iranian Port and Injures Hundreds

This image grab taken from footage released by the state television of IRIBNEWS on April 26, 2025 shows people walking away as smoke billows following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)
This image grab taken from footage released by the state television of IRIBNEWS on April 26, 2025 shows people walking away as smoke billows following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)

The number of injured from an explosion Saturday at a port in southern Iran jumped to 281, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
IRNA quoted Mojtaba Khaledi, the spokesman of Iran’s National Emergency Organization, as giving the figure.
The blast happened at the Rajaei port just outside of Bandar Abbas, a major facility for container shipments for Iran that handles some 80 million tons (72.5 million metric tons) of goods a year.
Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings kilometers (miles) away from the epicenter of the explosion, The Associated Press said.
Authorities have offered no cause for the explosion yet. Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its aging oil facilities that struggle for access to parts under international sanctions. But Iranian state TV specifically ruled out any energy infrastructure as causing or being damaged in the blast.
Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, told Iranian state TV that first responders were trying to reach the area while others were attempting to evacuate the site.
Hasanzadeh said the blast came from containers at Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State TV also reported there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though there were no immediate other details offered.
Rajaei port is some 1,050 kilometers (652 miles) southeast of Iran's capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes.
The blast happened as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.