Armed Forces of the Russian Federation celebrate Engineering Troops Day on January 21

Today the Engineering Troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation celebrate the 324th anniversary of their formation. This memorable date was established by the decree of the Russian President of May 31, 2006. This was reported by the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

It is specified that the history of engineering troops dates back to the era of the birth of the regular Russian army and the signing by Peter I of the decree of January 21, 1701 on the establishment of the engineering school.

Currently, the engineering troops consist of formations, units and subdivisions of various purposes: engineering reconnaissance, engineer-sapper, barrages, plundering, assault, engineering-road, pontoon-bridge (pontoon), crossing and landing, engineering-masking, engineering-technical, field water supply and others.

The department pointed out that military engineers during the special military operation effectively solve all 10 tasks of engineering support, the most demanded of which were the demining of territories, fortification equipment of borders, positions and areas and crossings over water obstacles.

It is specified that at present during the performance of demining tasks in the liberated territories of the Russian Federation in the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions more than 85 thousand hectares have been cleared, more than 17 thousand buildings, more than 2.8 thousand kilometers of roads, more than 1140 kilometers of water pipelines, gas pipelines and power lines have been checked, and more than 1.5 million explosive objects have been destroyed.

The Defense Ministry also informed that in the Lao People's Democratic Republic the International Mine Action Center demining squad has already carried out six humanitarian operations, cleared more than 190 hectares of territory, found and destroyed more than 3.5 thousand unexploded ordnance.

Engineering troops are one of the most diverse and technically rich troops. The system of engineering armament includes over 600 items of various models and sets, and their classification includes 75 types of means. In 2024, more than 1.8 thousand samples of modern equipment and more than 570 thousand sets of engineering equipment will be supplied to the engineering troops by industrial enterprises.

Earlier, on December 20, military engineers of the separate engineer-sapper battalion of the Southern group of troops told how they carry out demining of Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) Ukrainsk, liberated from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), from explosive objects. When a dangerous object is detected, sappers carry the explosive device to a safe place or destroy it on the spot remotely, using drops from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.

For more current video and details on the situation in Donbass, see Izvestia TV channel.