April 18,2023:President Vladimir Putin has visited the Russian military headquarters in the eastern regions of Ukraine and discussed the war with a general in charge of airborne troops who reportedly took up a powerful new role in the invasion.
Putin attended an army command meeting in the southern Kherson region and heard reports on the situation there, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. He also visited the headquarters in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region.
The Kremlin also released a video of the visit showing Putin – dressed in a heavy blue jacket – taking a helicopter to Luhansk, but did not say when any of the meetings took place. On Sunday, Putin was in Moscow for a meeting with Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu.
Russia’s leader heard reports from commanders of the airborne forces and the “Dnieper” army group and other senior officers on the situation in Kherson and Zaporizhia regions – both of which Moscow has proclaimed part of Russia.
“It is important for me to hear your opinion on how the situation is developing, to listen to you, to exchange information,” Putin told the commanders.
British military intelligence said on Sunday that Teplinsky had been given a major role in the war.
Kherson and Zaporizhia are among four Ukrainian regions Russia annexed last September, although it does not fully control any of the areas, in a move condemned as illegal by Kyiv and its allies.
