A video launched by the Kremlin and broadcast by Russian state tv confirmed Putin visiting the command submit for Russian forces within the southern Kherson area. It confirmed Putin arriving by helicopter to obtain stories from the highest army brass concerning the fight state of affairs.

The Russian chief then moved by helicopter to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard of the jap Luhansk area to listen to report from commanders. In each areas, Putin congratulated the army on the Orthodox Easter that was celebrated Sunday and offered them with icons.

Russia annexed the Kherson and Luhansk areas together with the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia areas in September in a transfer that was rejected by a lot of the world as unlawful. It was unimaginable to independently confirm the footage of Putin’s visits to the 2 areas that was launched by the Kremlin. The journey marked a second go to by the Russian chief to the areas that Russia occupied in Ukraine in as many months.

Last month, Putin visited the Russian-held Sea of Azov port metropolis of Mariupol, which was captured by Russian troops in May after two months of fierce preventing.

Putin’s journeys to the army headquarters come as Ukraine is making ready for a brand new counteroffensive to reclaim the occupied territories. Russia’s conflict in Ukraine has was a stalemate amid heavy preventing within the nation’s east, notably across the city of Bakhmut, which for 8 1/2 months has been the stage for the conflict’s longest and bloodiest struggle.

Ukrainian officers have mentioned they’re shopping for time by depleting Russian forces within the battle whereas Kyiv prepares a counteroffensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has argued that if Russia wins the Bakhmut battle, it might permit Putin to start constructing worldwide help for a deal that might require Ukraine to make unacceptable compromises to finish the conflict.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, informed The Associated Press in an interview in Kyiv that Ukraine’s allies are serving to the federal government to attain the extent of technical gear essential to launch the assault, delivering heavy armoured autos and ammunition.

He expressed confidence that Ukraine will be capable to return all its occupied territories. “We will defeat Russia,” he mentioned. “If you have a strong inner spirit, you will definitely win. And we always had it strong. This is something that always annoyed the Russians.”