The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Ukrainian, Volodymyr Zelensky, have started this week visiting hot spots on the battlefront in eastern Ukraine, a day apart, while the long-announced counteroffensive from Kyiv continues to await. According to their respective offices, the head of the Kremlin on Monday wanted to receive first-hand information from his generals; Zelenski arrived in Avdíivka yesterday, Tuesday, to give encouragement to his soldiers.
Putin visited his troops in Kherson and Luhansk, two of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia annexed last year (also Zaporizhia and Donetsk), although it does not fully control any of them. The Kremlin reported yesterday on this unplanned trip.
Putin took an interest in the situation on the southern and eastern fronts. The Russian leader "visited the headquarters of the Dnieper group in the Kherson area," the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.
There, he heard reports from the commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel General Mikhaïl Teplinski, and from other commands. "It is important for me to hear their opinion on how the situation develops, to exchange information," he said.
It was the Russian president's second trip to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions. On March 19, he quickly visited the city of Mariúpol.
Then he went to the "headquarters of the Vostok (East) unit of the National Guard in the People's Republic of Luhansk."
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was also near the hot zone of the war. Yesterday he visited a military hospital in the territory of Donetsk province under Ukrainian control, his office said.
There he decorated both military doctors and soldiers treated in the hospital. “Thank you for your service. I wish you a speedy recovery", he told them.
Before the hospital, it was in the city of Avdiivka, also in the Donetsk province and one of the points on the front where the hardest fighting takes place. Zelenski wanted to give encouragement to the Ukrainian troops defending this small town, which before the conflict had 31,000 inhabitants.
There is currently speculation about where the Ukrainian counter-offensive will take place. If in this area in the east, or perhaps in Kherson, in the south, where in November the Russians had to withdraw from the northern third of the province. In any case, Kyiv needs Western support. Zelenski said in his daily message on Monday that he is looking forward to the NATO meeting at the German base in Rammstein this Friday. Kyiv, he said, expects "comprehensive solutions that meet the prospects on the battlefield."
