Lieutenant General Yuri Stavitsky, chief of the engineering troops of the Russian Armed Forces, said that the equipment used to support river crossings had been thoroughly prepared even before the start of the special military operation. He stressed that the hardware currently in service fully meets the demands of real combat.

Speaking on the programme Voennaya priemka, Stavitsky pointed out that the troops had managed to re-equip with modern pontoon parks in time and that the floating transporters in use, as he put it, have solid potential for long-term operation.

He noted that engineering units have already carried out marches of more than 1,000 kilometres with columns of up to a hundred vehicles. For the engineering troops, he said, such distances are not a problem — and these movements take place not on training grounds, but in a real combat environment. According to Stavitsky, Russian personnel move quickly in the required direction, arrive in the designated area and promptly begin fulfilling their tasks.

He also reported that in the special military operation zone Russian units are actively using Fenix special mining drones, developed on the basis of the 11th engineering brigade. Stavitsky described Fenix as a kind of «drone elite» and stated that these systems allow engineering troops to mine enemy routes quickly, accurately and effectively.