Russian President Vladimir Putin Makes Surprise Visit To Occupied Ukraine

April 18 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to regions of occupied Ukraine, the Kremlin said Tuesday, marking his second surprise visit to the country in as many months.

The Kremlin released a three-minute video of Putin’s trip along with a brief statement on Tuesday that says he visited Russian headquarters in occupied regions of Kherson in the south and Luhansk in the east, where commanders informed him of the military situation.

The video shows him arriving in the country by helicopter, shaking hands with military personnel and presiding over meetings.

It was unclear when exactly the visit occurred, but the statement says Putin congratulated servicemen for Sunday’s Russian Orthodox Easter holiday and gifted them icons.

The statement says he met with Gen. Col. Mikhail Teplinsky, head of Russia’s airborne forces, known as the VDV, and Gen. Col. Oleg Makarevich in Kherson, as well as Gen. Col. Alexander Lapin in Luhansk.

A day earlier, British intelligence said Teplinksy has “highly likely” returned to a major role in Ukraine after having been dismissed from the theater in January.

“Teplinsky is likely one of the few senior Russian generals widely respected by the rank-and-file,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said. “His recent turbulent career suggests intense tensions between factions within the Russian general staff about Russia’s military approach in Ukraine.”

The trip, conducted under apparent secrecy, was announced almost exactly a month after Putin made a surprise visit to the occupied city of Mariupol in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in mid-March.

The recent visits occurred as the war — which began Feb. 24, 2022, with Russia invading Ukraine — has come to a near halt with heavy fighting continuing along the Donbas front line and around the eastern Ukrainian town Bakhmut where British intelligence said Tuesday that Russian forces are making “creeping advances.”

It also comes ahead of an expected counteroffensive by Ukraine and as its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, continues to call on ally nations for weaponry and speedy deliveries of it.

“The aggressor must lose,” he said in his Monday night address to the nation. “And this is our joint responsibility with our partners — to gain more time for peace, that is, to be as active as possible now in providing weapons and ammunition to speed up our joint victory.”

“It is very important to understand this: every time we hear that the promised supply of weapons is delayed, every time there are doubts about the type of weapons for Ukraine, about the range or other quality characteristics — every time it means that Ukrainian soldiers are giving their lives so that we have this time — The time that is spent to convince so that the supply of the necessary weapons takes place after all.”