KYIV: Russian President Vladimir Putin visited command posts of the Kremlin’s forces fighting in Ukraine, officials said Tuesday, as the war approaches its 14th month and Kyiv readies a possible counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons.
A video released by the Kremlin and broadcast by Russian state television showed Putin arriving by helicopter at the command post of Russian forces in southern Ukraine’s Kherson province and then flying to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard in Luhansk province, which is in the east.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the visits took place Monday. The trip, Putin’s second in two months to Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine, represented an apparent attempt by the Russian leader to rally his troops and demonstrate his authority.
Dressed in a dark suit, Putin appeared to chair meetings with his military top brass during both of his stops. The locations of the military headquarters weren’t disclosed, making it impossible to assess how close they were to the front line. Nor was it possible to independently verify the authenticity of the video footage.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his latest trip to positions near the front line to stiffen the resolve of soldiers battling Putin’s troops.
Zelenskyy visited units in Avdiivka, a city in Donetsk province where fierce battles are taking place, his office said. He heard first-hand reports about the battlefield situation and handed out awards.
Zelenskyy’s visits to areas of his country that have felt the brunt of Russia’s full-scale invasion gathered pace last month as he shuttled across the country, often by train. As with Putin, the Ukrainian leader’s wartime trips usually aren’t publicised until after he’s already left an area.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has become largely deadlocked amid heavy fighting in the east, particularly around the Donestk province city of Bakhmut, which for 8½ months has been the stage for the longest and bloodiest battle so far.
Kherson and Luhansk, along with Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia provinces, were annexed illegally by Russia in September, following local referendums that Ukraine and the West denounced as shams. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak was scathing in his criticism of Putin’s trip, accusing the Russian leader of “degradation” and being the author of “mass murders” in the war.