Putin and Zelenskyy: War Poised for a New Phase as Both Leaders Rally Troops

The Presidents of Russia and Ukraine recently visited the forces fighting against each other. Putin went to command posts in Ukraine for the second time this year, while Zelenskyy was near the front line. These visits were likely done to encourage their soldiers, as the war between them has been going on for almost a year now. Ukraine is also preparing to counterattack with weapons that it received from Western countries.

Recently, some really powerful weapons were sent to Ukraine. The official German website said on Tuesday that one of these weapons is the Patriot guided missile system, which was delivered to Ukraine in the past week.

Ukraine has been asking its friends for months now to give them Patriots and other air defense missiles, and it looks like the first one was sent by Germany. While a Ukrainian air force representative wouldn’t confirm this, he said that getting those missiles would be great news as they would make it possible to shoot down Russian planes from farther away.

Videos from the Kremlin showed that on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin left his helicopter in Southern Ukraine’s Kherson province and then flew to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard in Luhansk province. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman confirmed the trip.

While wearing a dark suit, Putin had meetings with his army officers in two very secret places. We don’t know how close the locations were from the battle site and we can’t really know if what is seen on the videos of these trips are real or not.

On Tuesday, President Zelenskyy went to Avdiivka, a city in eastern Ukraine that’s been experiencing fierce fighting. He heard accounts directly from people involved and gave out awards.

President Zelenskyy has been travelling frequently throughout Ukrainian territories affected by the Russian invasion — often using trains — starting last month, but his trips weren’t publicized until after he completed them.

When President Putin went on a trip, his staff showed photos of him in polite, respectful settings. On the other hand, President Zelenskyy’s office shared pictures of him taking selfies with soldiers and also eating cake and drinking out of paper cups with them.

Also, in Ukraine there is a very serious battle near the city of Bakhmut and this conflict has been going on for 8 1/2 months! This has been the longest and most violent fight that has happened in the war so far.

In September, Russia took control of four Ukrainian provinces – Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia – without permission. Ukraine and the West said this was wrong because it happened without true agreement. Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian official, harshly criticized Russian leader Putin for causing death and destruction by taking over these areas.

Ukraine still has control over some of Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as parts of Luhansk. In November, Russia gave up an area in Kherson that includes the capital city. The governor from the occupied part of Donetsk province went to Minsk, Belarus and got President Alexander Lukashenko’s backing. He is a good friend with Russian leader Putin.

Valery Karbalevich, a Belarusian political expert, said in a phone talk that the Kremlin is putting lots of pressure on Belarus to become more involved in the war against Ukraine. He further explained that Moscow’s decision to send Pushilin (a Russian leader) to Minsk was intended to warn Ukraine that Belarus won’t turn a blind eye on it anymore.

During his visits, President Putin wished the military divisions a happy Orthodox Easter Sunday and gave them religious images (called ‘icons’). He also presented senior officers at the Kherson headquarters with a copy of an icon belonging to a longtime Russian general from the 1800s.

The people who attended the meetings were the ones Putin liked. One of those important people was Col. Gen. Mikhail Teplinsky, who was in charge of Russia’s military airborne troops, and he was at the Kherson base.

Teplinsky was a well-known and respected military officer who rose from the position of lieutenant to become chief. Unfortunately, last year he lost his job due to an argument with his superiors. Recently, however, Putin met with him which meant that Teplinsky had been brought back as chief again.

Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin was in charge of the Russian military near Ukraine, but he got into trouble for leaving too quickly during a fight between Russia and Ukraine. Putin still trusts this person, though, because he invited Lapin to the Luhansk region and made him chief of staff for the ground forces.

Putin and Pushilin recently took trips as Ukraine is getting ready to get back land it lost to the enemy. To help Ukraine with this mission, both Germany and the United States, plus Netherlands have all agreed to give them Patriot missiles. Furthermore, a group of 65 Ukrainian soldiers were even trained in Oklahoma last month on how to use these Patriots.

The Patriot is a type of missile system first used in the 1980s that can shoot down airplanes, helicopters and smaller missiles. A typical Patriot battery usually consists of six launchers for firing missiles, plus a radar to track incoming targets, an electricity generator, and a command center. Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy has said they need at least 20 Patriot batteries. Ukrainian authorities have also stated they are reducing Russian forces in eastern Ukraine while getting ready for their own attack.

In Ukraine, three people have been killed and eleven others have been injured in the past two days according to Zelenskyy’s office. Most of these casualties happened in the eastern area which has two provinces named Luhansk and Donetsk. Additionally, six more people were hurt due to artillery fire in Kherson city.

A drone from Ukraine reportedly flew into Russia and damaged a military building in the city of Novozybkov. According to Russian Governor Alexander Bogomaz, the attack caused damage but nobody was hurt. The Ukrainian government did not make any comments about the incident.

Head over to https://bigbignews.net/russia-ukraine to find out all the news about the war.