YINCHUAN, Aug. 13 -- The live-fire drill of joint exercise ZAPAD/INTERACTION-2021 kicked off at the combined-arms tactical training base of the PLA Army in Qingtongxia City of West China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on August 13.

Since the beginning of the exercise on August 9, the joint command of the Chinese and Russian armed forces has held four meetings, in which both sides have had thorough communications and analyses about the mission, and drafted multiple operational plans.

According to Huang Hongyuan, deputy director of the Operations Bureau of the Joint Staff Department of the PLA Western Theater Command, the Chinese and Russian armed forces conducted multiple drills on August 12, focusing on operations grouping, combat deployment, joint reconnaissance and early warning, and revising the operational plans revision, in a bid to lay a solid foundation for the live-fire drill.

In the past few days, the Chinese and Russian armed forces have got well prepared for the following realistic operations by strengthening targeted training in each combat group. With the help of the Chinese teaching group, the Russian participating members who used armored assault vehicles, wheeled infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and other main battle equipment provided by China for the first time have mastered the essentials, with their shooting performance greatly improved. In addition, the air forces involved from both sides have also conducted multiple table-top drill and on-site coordinated training, striving to perform perfectly in the live-fire drill.

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