Heavy fighting continues in Bachmuth

Putin visits two regions on the contact lines in Ukraine. Zelenskiy inspects his troops

Screenshot from a video of Putin's visit to Kherson. EBA

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit yesterday to two regions on the contact lines in Ukraine, while his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky visited his country's troops in the east of the country.

The Kremlin announced that Putin had visited the Kherson regions (south) and Luhansk (east), which Russia announced in September last year, although its forces do not fully control them.

Putin met with Russian military leaders and discussed the situation on several fronts, and Putin appeared in a recorded footage released by the Kremlin as he disembarked from a helicopter while visiting the headquarters of the Dnipro military forces in the Kherson region, as well as the headquarters of the National Guard in Luhansk.

"I am interested in listening to your opinions on the situation, exchanging information," Putin said in the video, in which he appeared surrounded by senior military commanders, and the Kremlin reported that Putin congratulated the military in the two regions on the occasion of Easter, which was celebrated by the Orthodox last Sunday.

In a related context, the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he visited Ukrainian forces in Avdiyevka in eastern Ukraine, yesterday.

Zelensky received reports from military commanders about the situation on the battlefield and honored the soldiers, the office said: "I feel proud to be here today to thank you for your services and for defending our land, Ukraine and our families."

Ukrainian officials said heavy fighting continued in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmout, while Russian forces launched heavy artillery attacks.

Ukraine's armed forces said they had repelled dozens of attacks by Russian forces in the east of the country, which were concentrated on the cities of Bakhmout and Marienka, and the General Staff report said the two cities had become the center of the fighting.

The Ukrainian army repelled about 50 attacks from five different directions, and the Ukrainian air force reported that it targeted several Russian sites, the authority said.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian attack units, including paratroopers, had captured two districts in Pakhmut.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said that two Russian strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear warheads carried out routine patrol sorties over the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea off the far east of the country, the TASS news agency reported.

Japan's Defense Ministry later said in a statement it had dispatched a fighter jet in response to the flight of two Russian intelligence-gathering planes over the Sea of Japan.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Tokyo had lodged a protest with Russia over military exercises around disputed islands near Japan's Hokkaido.