Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a rare and strategic meeting, visited the headquarters of Russian troops fighting in Ukraine early Tuesday April 18, his second trip to the Russian-held territories there since March.
Video put out by the Kremlin and broadcast by Russian state television showed Putin visiting the command post for Russian forces in the southern Kherson region.
There, he met a senior officer from Russia’s airborne troops, Col Gen Mikhail Teplinsky, who has reportedly taken up a powerful new role in the invasion.
It showed Putin arriving by helicopter to receive reports from the top military brass about the combat situation.
The Russian strongman then moved by helicopter to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard of the eastern Luhansk region to hear a report from commanders.
In both locations, Putin congratulated the military on Orthodox Easter, which was celebrated Sunday and presented them with ‘icons’ of Jesus’.
Russia annexed the Kherson and Luhansk regions along with the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in September in a move that was rejected by much of the world as illegal.
Watch the video below:
