RUSSIA: Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, paid a visit to the base of the Russian troops engaged in combat in Ukraine early on April 18, his second trip there since March.

Putin was seen visiting the Russian military' command post in the southern Kherson region in a video that was made public by the Kremlin and aired on Russian state media. Putin was seen arriving by helicopter to hear briefings about the fighting situation from the highest military leadership.

The Russian leader then moved  by helicopter to the eastern Luhansk region's Russian National Guard headquarters to hear commanders' reports. Putin gave icons to the military in both places and congratulated them on the Orthodox Easter that was observed on Sunday.

In a move that was widely denounced as illegitimate, Russia annexed the provinces of Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia in September. The video of Putin's travels to the two locations that the Kremlin made public could not be independently verified. The trip was the Russian president's second journey in as many months to the regions that Russia had controlled in Ukraine.

Putin reached Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov that is under Russian control and was taken by Russian forces in May after two months of ferocious warfare. Putin's visits to the military's top command occur as Ukraine is ready to launch a new counteroffensive to retake the occupied areas.

In the midst of fierce combat, particularly in and around the town of Bakhmut, which has been the scene of the conflict's longest and bloodiest battle for 8.5 months, Russia's war in Ukraine has reached a standstill.

According to Ukrainian officials, they are buying time by weakening Russian forces involved in the conflict as Kiev gets ready to launch a counteroffensive. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, should Russia triumph in the battle of Bakhmut, Vladimir Putin may be able to start gaining support for a peace agreement that would force Ukraine to make unfavourable concessions in order to put an end to the war.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the country's allies are supplying heavy armoured vehicles and ammunition to the government to help it acquire the level of technical equipment required to launch the attack.

He expressed certainty that Ukraine would be able to reclaim all territory it had conquered. "We will defeat Russia," he said. "If your inner soul is strong, you will undoubtedly succeed. And it's always been strong. The Russians have always found this annoying.

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