In Kherson and Luhansk, Vladimir Putin visits “his crimes”, according to Ukraine


This is a first for Vladimir Putin since the start of the war. He recently went to visit his troops in the Kherson and Luhansk regions.





By NJ with AFP

Without specifying the date, the Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin had visited the Kherson and Luhansk regions.
 © RAMIL SITDIKOV / SPUTNIK / AFP

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PFor the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin visited the regions of Kherson and Luhansk, respectively in southern and eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin announced. He went to meet the soldiers deployed there as part of the Russian offensive launched more than a year ago, on the occasion of the Orthodox Easter holiday, which was celebrated on Sunday.

However, the Kremlin does not specify the date of these trips. “The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation visited the headquarters of the military grouping ‘Dnieper'” in the Kherson region, the statement said. Vladimir Putin was thus able to meet with the commander of the Russian airborne forces, General Mikhail Teplinsky, and other senior military officials to discuss the situation in the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, the annexation of which Russia has claimed in last September.

Ukraine was quick to react, accusing Vladimir Putin of visiting the scene of his “crimes”. This trip “is a” special tour “of the author of mass murders in the occupied and ravaged territories to take pleasure in the crimes” committed by the Russian forces, declared on Twitter Mykhaïlo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency.

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Putin had already visited Crimea and Mariupol

“It is important for me to hear your opinion on the situation, to listen to you, to exchange information,” said the Russian president, according to a video released by the Kremlin. The Russian army had abandoned the city of Kherson, capital of the eponymous region, in November 2022 to retreat to the other side of the Dnieper.READ ALSO France, nest of Russian spies

In the Luhansk region, Vladimir Putin exchanged with the soldiers of the Russian National Guard staff deployed there, according to the Kremlin.

In March, Vladimir Putin had already made surprise visits to Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, and to Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city besieged for months and taken by the Russian army in May 2022.






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