President Putin makes surprise visit to Russia's forward command post in Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin visits a Russian military training center (Photo: AFP).

Russia's Tass news agency reported today, April 18, that President Vladimir Putin made a surprise inspection visit to the Russian military's forward command posts in the Kherson and Lugansk regions, Ukraine.

In Lugansk, Mr. Putin visited the command post of the Eastern Regional National Guard in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR).

"Here, President Putin heard a report from Colonel General Alexander Lapin and other senior officials on the military situation on this front," the Kremlin press office wrote.

On the same day, the Kremlin confirmed that President Putin visited the forward command post of the Russian army's Dnieper strike group in the Kherson region.

"At the command post of the Dnieper assault group in the Kherson region, President Putin was briefed by Colonel General Mikhail Teplinnsky, commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, and Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, commander of the Dnieper assault group," the Kremlin added.

The exact dates of the visits have not been announced by the Kremlin. However, Tass revealed that this is the first time the Russian President has visited the war-torn regions of Lugansk and Kherson in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin's helicopter lands at Russia's forward command post in Kherson ( Video : Twitter).

Previously, on March 19, Mr. Putin also flew by helicopter from the Crimean peninsula to the city of Mariupol in the separatist region of Donetsk. The purpose of Mr. Putin's visit to Mariupol is said to be to inspect the reconstruction activities in this city.

On September 30, President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement to annex four territories in Ukraine including Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to Russia. The agreements were signed at a ceremony in the Kremlin, 3 days after referendums were held in these 4 regions.

Four separatist regions of Ukraine annexed by Russia in late 2022 (Map: Aljazeera).

Despite signing the annexation agreement, Russia still does not control the entire territory of the four breakaway regions of Ukraine. Recently, fighting has been extremely fierce in Lugansk, where observers say the Ukrainian army is preparing for a major counterattack.

In Kherson, after withdrawing from the capital city of Kherson in early November 2022, the Russian army has urgently built a defense line on the left bank of the Dnieper River with the participation of many elite paratroopers and national guards units. This defense line will be Russia's first stop to prevent President Volodymyr Zelensky's army from advancing deeper into the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/tong-thong-putin-bat-ngo-thi-sat-so-chi-huy-tien-phuong-cua-nga-tai-ukraine-20230418124017810.htm