Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the headquarters of two units of troops fighting in the Ukrainian regions of Jerson and Lugansk, annexed by Russia last September, where he took an interest in the situation on the southern and eastern fronts, it reported today the Kremlin.
"The Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation visited the headquarters of the Dnieper group in the direction of Kherson," said the Russian Presidency in a brief statement published on its website about Putin's first visit at the head of this region in almost 14 months of military campaign in Ukraine.
Shortly thereafter, the Kremlin also reported Putin's visit to the "headquarters of the 'Vostok' (Eastern) unit of the National Guard in the Lugansk people's republic." It is also the first trip of the president to this Ukrainian province.
According to the Kremlin, at the headquarters of the Dnieper group, the Russian president heard reports from the commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel General Mikhail Teplinski, the commander of this group of forces, Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, and other military leaders.
According to the official TASS news agency, the Kremlin chief asked for information about the situation in the directions of Jerson and Zaporiyia.
"I don't want to distract them from duties directly related to command and control, so we are working here in a professional, brief but concrete manner," Putin said. "It is important for me to listen to their opinion on how the situation is developing, to listen to them, to exchange information," he added.
The president asked the military commanders to start informing him "about the situation in the Kherson direction and then in the Zaporizhia direction."
He also stressed that Teplinski "was on the front lines for a long time, he made a very detailed report" on the progress of the military campaign, after British intelligence recently stated that the commander of the Airborne Forces was replaced last January but that he had returned. recently in command.
This is Putin’s first visit to the Jershon region, which Russian troops only partially control and from whose northern third they withdrew last November. Last March 19, he visited Mariupol, in the eastern Donetsk region.
At the headquarters of the 'Vostok' group in Lugansk, Putin in turn listened to reports from Colonel General Alexandr Lapin and other senior commanders on the situation on this front. The Lugansk region is almost 100 percent controlled by Russia, unlike neighboring Donetsk, where it has seized almost half of the territory and where its only offensive is currently taking place in the cities of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mariinka.
According to Interfax agency quoting the Kremlin, "President Putin's trips to the Jerson region and the Lugansk People's Republic, as well as to the headquarters of (the groups) Dnieper and Vostok were not prepared in advance."
The Russian president also congratulated the military on Orthodox Easter and presented them with a copy of a religious icon that belonged, he said, to "one of the most successful defense ministers of the Russian Empire," TASS reported.
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