Zelensky greets forces on the front line in Donetsk
This is how a REAL leader visits a warzone: Zelensky greets forces on the front line… as Putin meets military commanders safely in occupied HQ
- Ukrainian president visited 110th separate mechanised brigade in Avdiivka
- He wished his troops a happy Orthodox Easter and presented them with honours
- Comes as Putin met commanders in their HQ in occupied Kherson and Luhansk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has embarked on a tour of the frontlines in the embattled Donetsk region, paying a visit to troops at the heavily shelled frontline town of Avdiivka.
‘I have the honour to be here today, to thank you for your service, for defending our land, Ukraine, our families. Congratulations on the holidays, on Easter. I wish you only victory – this is what I wish for every Ukrainian, this is what is very important to all of us,’ he told troops of the 110th separate mechanised brigade.
‘I wish good health to all of you and your families, and I am sincerely grateful on behalf of every Ukrainian for the great path that you overcome every day,’ he said.
The 45-year-old president was pictured standing on a debris-strewn road outside a shelled compound speaking with armoured troops, before awarding honours to several soldiers and warmly embracing them inside an operating base close to the frontlines.
He cut a very different figure to his Russian counterpart, who wrapped up warm in a large coat and struggled to clamber out of an SUV on a trip to his forces HQ in Kherson and Luhansk last week.
Vladimir Putin’s trip to visit his commanders in Kherson and Luhansk marked the first time the 70-year-old despot has visited the two regions partly controlled by Russian troops since Moscow annexed them along with two other Ukrainian regions last September.
Unlike Zelensky, who has visited his troops on the front line several times, Putin declined a trip to meet his foot soldiers and instead opted for the comfort and safety of plush leather chairs in his commanders’ HQ.
During a working trip to the Donetsk region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline positions of the Ukrainian defenders in Avdiivka
Zelensky visited a warehouse used as a base by frontline troops near Avdiivka
Zelensky toured the compound before presenting several troops with state awards
Zelensky is pictured with the 110th separate mechanised brigade near Avdiivka
Unlike Zelensky, who has visited his troops on the front line several times, Putin declined a trip to meet his foot soldiers and instead opted for the comfort and safety of plush leather chairs in his commanders’ HQ
Putin is seen in his commanders’ headquarters in Luhansk
In this photo taken from video released by Russian TV Pool on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin during a visit to the headquarters of the national guard ‘Vostok’ (East) at an undisclosed location, in Russian-controlled Luhansk region, Eastern Ukraine
Putin gingerly climbs out of an SUV while on a trip to visit commanders in the Luhansk and Kherson regions of occupied Ukraine
Zelensky visited ‘advanced positions’ in the town close to the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, and wished troops of the 110th separate mechanised brigade a happy Orthodox Easter, a statement on the Ukrainian government’s website said.
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The President presented the servicemen with the Orders of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Orders ‘For Courage’ – significant state honours – before observing a minute’s silence for the troops fallen comrades.
His trip to the frontlines comes days after Putin was shipped to the Kherson and Luhansk regions of Ukraine to meet with several commanders.
The despot heard field reports from Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, Commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, Commander of the Dnieper Forces Group, and Chief of Ground Forces Colonel-General Alexander Lapin.
British military intelligence said on Sunday that Teplinsky had been given a major role in the war and described him as ‘likely one of the few senior Russian generals widely respected by the rank-and-file’.
‘It’s important for me to hear your opinion on the situation, to listen to you and to exchange information,’ Putin told Teplinsky and his fellow commanders in a video released by the Kremlin.
The Russian leader also wished his troops a happy Easter, which Orthodox Christians marked last Sunday, the Kremlin said – though the footage of Putin in Ukraine was appeared to have been recorded several days in advance.
‘The president is now visiting the new regions more and more often,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding it is ‘absolutely important’ that Putin as supreme commander-in-chief of Russia’s armed forces ‘gets information on the spot’.
Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Zelensky, called Putin’s trip to occupied territory a ‘special tour’ of ‘the mass murders’ author’, adding he went to Ukraine’s occupied territories ‘to enjoy the crimes of his minions for the last time.’
After Putin’s visit was made public on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had shelled the centre of the city of Kherson, killing one person and injuring nine.
Last week a Russian strike on a block of flats in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk killed 15, including a two-year-old boy, and wounded 24.
Putin hobnobs with his generals in occupied Ukraine
Putin was seen pounding the pavement with his commanders in eastern Ukraine
Putin wished his commanders a happy Orthodox Easter and presented them with a gift
He is seen shaking hands with commanders after disembarking from a helicopter
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Putin walked stiffly as he was filmed clambering out of an SUV and a helicopter on his supposedly spontaneous visit to inspect his top frontline commanders.
He first visited the Dnieper headquarters in Kherson, before travelling to the base of the Vostok National Guard in Luhansk. In one clip broadcast on Russian state television, a road sign for Henichesk port in the occupied Kherson region is visible in the background.
He presented senior military figures with an Easter gift of a religious icon originally belonging to a tsarist-era defence minister and appeared to wish his commanders well for Orthodox Easter, which took place on Sunday.
But the president was seen wearing different clothes in the series of clips and in one conversation he said: ‘Easter will be coming,’ suggesting the trip to Ukraine was made before this weekend and casting doubt on the timing of his trip.
Journalist Dmitry Kolezev remarked: ‘Surprisingly, during the trip, Putin was first in a shirt and tie, and then in a black turtleneck.
‘Either he likes to change clothes so much, or they filmed on different days.’
Putin will hope his presence close to the front line in Kherson will motivate his troops, who are labouring to build defences along the banks of the Dnieper river in anticipation of a Ukrainian counter-attack.
Putin was seen wearing different clothes despite the trip supposedly taking place in one day
Putin addresses his commanders during his visit to occupied regions of Ukraine
The image shows that his convoy drove past Henichesk – a port city in Kherson
Ukraine’s armed forces successfully managed to push the occupiers out of Kherson city late last year, but did not cross the river to reclaim more territory in the region.
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Putin’s trip to Kherson and Luhansk comes less than a month after he paid a visit to the southern port city of Mariupol, which was bombarded to ruin last year.
Putin brazenly praised ongoing ‘reconstruction’ works and met Russians who had been relocated to the port city in newly built apartments.
The timing of Putin’s ‘spontaneous’ visit to the once flourishing metropolis took place just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader accusing him of war crimes.
Putin arrived in Mariupol by helicopter and then drove himself around the city’s ‘memorial sites,’ concert hall and coastline, Russian reports said, adding that he also met residents in the city’s Nevskyi district.
But the exiled city council of Mariupol condemned the visit, saying Putin was an ‘international criminal’, while Ukraine’s defence ministry said the Russian president’s decision to visit the city at night ‘befits a thief’.
‘First, it is safer,’ the ministry wrote on Twitter.
‘Also, darkness allows him to highlight what he wants to show, and keeps the city his army completely destroyed and its few surviving inhabitants away from prying eyes.’
The Telegram channel General SVR, which claims to have sources inside the Kremlin, said Putin’s visits to Kherson and Luhansk regions were staged with a lookalike.
The channel – and others – made a similar claim about visits last month to Mariupol and Crimea in occupied Ukraine.
‘A man resembling the president of Russia continues to travel through the occupied territories of Ukraine,’ it stated.
‘The recent visits by the doppelgänger to Crimea and Mariupol pleased Putin and his entourage so much that it was decided to continue such events.
‘This time, the understudy flew in… visited the headquarters of the group of troops in the Kherson direction, and even received reports from the generals.
‘At the same time, the worst and oldest car was chosen for the movement of the presidential understudy, which, as part of a small column, traveled around the endless fields of the Kherson region.
‘It is necessary to convince the Russians that Putin visits the front line under bullets and with personal courage raises the morale of soldiers and disgraced generals before the upcoming counter-offensive of Ukrainian troops.
‘The fact that this does not work as intended, no one tells the president.’
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022, has triggered the deadliest European conflict since the Second World War.
Moscow claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions, but its forces are locked in a grinding artillery battle in the eastern Donbas with heavy losses on both sides, while they have been forced to pull back in southern Kherson, which Putin visited.
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