This video still, made available by Russia’s state news agency Sputnik and released by Russia’s Pool TV channel, shows Russia’s president arriving by helicopter at an unnamed location.
(Photo: dpa)
Moscow Almost 14 months after the start of the invasion he ordered, Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to the war zone in Ukraine again, according to Kremlin sources. In the Cherson and Luhansk regions, Putin visited the military headquarters and met with Russian troops fighting there, according to the statement published in Moscow on Tuesday.
Putin was shown on Russian state television in a heavy blue jacket, stepping out of a military helicopter and greeting senior military commanders. However, it was not said exactly when the visit took place. A clue is only his Easter greeting to soldiers. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrated Easter on April 16.
According to the Kremlin, Putin attended a military command meeting in the occupied part of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson. The commander of the airborne troops, Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky, and commanders of the army group “Dnieper” and other high-ranking officers informed Putin about the situation in the southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia annexed by Russia.
Putin also visited the headquarters of the National Guard in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk in the Donbass, which, like the Donetsk region, was also annexed by Russia last year. There he met Colonel-General Alexander Lapin and other high-ranking officers. The government in Moscow has named the complete capture of Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbass industrial region in eastern Ukraine as a key objective of its invasion.
In addition, he gave the Russian soldiers an icon in view of the Orthodox Easter celebrations last weekend, the Kremlin said.
The Kremlin boss was informed about the situation.
(Photo: IMAGO/ITAR-TASS)
Putin thus traveled once again to territories annexed in violation of international law after the start of the war, including Cherson and Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Donetsk.
Ukrainian side reports heavy shelling in Bakhmut
His performance in the port city of Mariupol in the Donetsk region caused quite a stir a few weeks ago. In the very first weeks of the war, Mariupol became a symbol of brutal attacks and great destruction.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army reported increased Russian attacks in Bakhmut in the east of the country, which had been heavily contested for weeks. In the city, which has been devastated by the fighting that has been going on for months, the Kremlin troops are increasingly using heavy artillery and airstrikes, according to the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces. Russia remains determined to capture Bakhmut “at any cost.”
While the Ukrainian side speaks of very high Russian losses, according to Russian information, the Ukrainian armed forces have also suffered heavy losses. The information cannot be independently verified.
The capture of Bakhmut could be a stepping stone for Russia to then advance towards two major cities in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, namely Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. However, there has been speculation for weeks about a possible Ukrainian spring offensive to recapture occupied territory.
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