Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday visited command posts of the Kremlin's forces fighting in Ukraine in an apparent effort to rally his troops as the war approaches its 14th month and Kyiv readies a possible counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons, the Associated Press reported. A video released by the Kremlin and broadcast by Russian state television showed Putin arriving by helicopter at the command post for Russian forces in the southern Kherson region and afterward flying to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard of the eastern Luhansk region. Dressed in a dark suit, and in an apparent demonstration of authority, Putin appeared to chair the meetings with his military top brass. It was his second trip in two months to the Russian-occupied territories in the neighboring country. The locations of the military headquarters in the Kherson and Luhansk regions weren't disclosed, so it wasn't possible to assess how close they are to the front line. Russia's war in Ukraine has turned into a stalemate amid heavy fighting in the country's east, particularly around the town of Bakhmut, which for 81⁄2 months has been the stage for the war's longest and bloodiest fight. In both locations, Putin congratulated the military on Orthodox Easter, which was celebrated Sunday and presented them with icons. 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. It was impossible to independently verify the authenticity of the video footage. The Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the footage. Such trips by the Russian leader are rare, although he made a surprise visit to the city of Mariupol in March. It is not known when the trip to Kherson took place but at one point in footage released of the trip, Putin refers to the Easter holiday "coming up"- suggesting that it happened some days ago. Orthodox Easter was celebrated last Sunday. The Kremlin has said that the trips were not prepared in advance. Russian media reported that the president also inquired about the situation in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow has also claimed as part of Russia. He is quoted as telling the military meeting in Kherson that while he did not want to distract them from their duties, "it is important for me to hear your opinion on how the situation is developing, to listen to you, to exchange information". Russian troops retreated from the city of Kherson late last year, losing the only regional capital it had managed to capture since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022. However, some of the region remains under Russian control. Putin's trips to the military headquarters come as Ukraine is preparing for a new counteroffensive to reclaim the occupied territories. Ukrainian officials have said they're buying time by depleting Russian forces in the battle while Kyiv prepares a counteroffensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has argued that if Russia wins the Bakhmut battle, it could allow Putin to begin building international support for a deal that would require Ukraine to make unacceptable compromises to end the war. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told The Associated Press in an interview in Kyiv that Ukraine's allies are helping the government to achieve the level of technical equipment necessary to launch the attack, delivering heavy armored vehicles and ammunition. — Agencies
