Vladimir Putin
The Kremlin announced early Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the commander of Moscow’s Ukraine offensive in an army headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Moscow did not specify when the meeting occurred, although footage broadcast by state media indicated that it occurred at night.
After the US approved the supply of Dutch and Danish F-16s to Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the generals.
“Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operations group in Rostov-on-Don”, the Kremlin stated in a statement.
“The head of state listened to briefings by Russian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, commanders of directions, and other senior officers of the group”, the statement reads.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti broadcast a video of Putin, dressed in a suit, stepping out of a jeep in the dark and being met with a handshake by Gerasimov, dressed in military uniform.
It also showed Putin presiding over a gathering of high-ranking army commanders.
Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia near Ukraine, has become an operational base for Russian soldiers in the country.
It was also the site of a dramatic armed revolt by Wagner mercenaries in June when they briefly took over the army headquarters in Rostov before calling it quits.
Wagner’s target, Gerasimov, has been rarely seen in public since.
Putin rarely visits locations close to Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
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