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THE UKRAINE WAR
PUTIN VISITS UKRAINE The UK Telegraph: Inside Vladimir Putin's visit to Kherson ... With the battle to win over hearts lost, Putin is left hoping to outlast the Ukrainians he so far cannot beat 
Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Russian national guard headquarters in the Lugansk region in the east of Ukraine, which is partly controlled by Russian troops. CREDIT: AFP See Original article: Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | ||
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Inside Vladimir Putin's visit to Kherson
With the battle to win over hearts lost, Putin is left hoping to outlast the Ukrainians he so far cannot beat Telegraph Dispatches Written by Nataliya Vasilyeva ... RUSSIA CORRESPONDENT Tuesday April 18 2023 ... 11:03 AM (1 hour ago) Vladimir Putin has visited Kherson - one of four Ukrainian regions the Russian President declared “new territories” of his federation in a glitzy Kremlin signing ceremony last year. When he went to Crimea in 2014 after it was seized by Russian troops, the Russian leader was welcomed by a jubilant crowd that thronged the streets of Sevastopol, chanting “Putin” and “Russia”. But his visit to “liberated” Kherson, announced by the Kremlin on Tuesday, could hardly have been more different. Rather than a bustling city - Russia’s troops retreated from the regional capital last year - Mr Putin visited a former children’s holiday camp turned military command centre. In the sparse and heavily-edited footage released by the Kremlin of the trip, which likely took place last week, a sombre-looking Putin can be seen climbing out of a military helicopter in an empty field, where he is greeted by a uniformed officer. Later, Putin is filmed disembarking from an SUV to shake hands with another commander, with his forehead furrowed into a frown. Another scene showed the Russian president meeting troops in a windowless room with walls covered in camouflage nets. In the carefully stage-managed encounter, the Russian leader is filmed asking other officers for detailed reports of what Russia called the “special military operation”. 
Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting the headquarters of the Dniepr military grouping in the Kherson region of Ukraine. CREDIT: AFP It is not surprising that the Kremlin did not even try to organise footage of Putin welcoming the “new citizens” of this Ukrainian territory into the Russian fold. Though staying away from the occupied territories may in hindsight have helped the Russian President distance himself from Russia’s military setbacks, his recent visit to Mariupol - the Ukrainian city nearly completely destroyed by the Kremlin’s forces in a bloody siege - ended in embarrassment. As he stood outside a newly built apartment block chatting to a group of “friendly locals” widely believed to be FSB agents in disguise, a woman’s voice was heard shouting: “It’s all lies! It’s all for show!” But Putin exposed himself to more than potential embarrassment by travelling to Kherson, which also undoubtedly contributed to the brief nature of his stay there. Just over a year ago the biggest threat to anyone’s life and safety in the region’s sleepy towns like Melitopol would be food poisoning from a nitrate-rich watermelon (or so local media reports suggest). These days hardly a week passes without news of yet another act of sabotage or a car bomb targeting Russia’s occupying administration. With the partisan threat and the battle to win over hearts and minds largely lost, all Putin has left is to hole up with his generals in windowless rooms such as those on the Kherson base, hoping to outlast the Ukrainians he so far cannot beat on the battlefield. --------------------------------- Putin's visit was an attempt to earn brownie points from an audience far away from the battlefield Vladimir Putin has reportedly visited some of his troops in Ukraine By Dominic Nicholls ... ASSOCIATE EDITOR, DEFENCE Standfast the chatter about whether it was really him or a body double - note the visitor’s willingness to shake hands stands in contrast to Putin’s alleged germophobia in Moscow, necessitating a conference table the length of a Himars barrel - we should assume the report is accurate. When assessing visits to troops at the front by senior military and political figures, we should always ask what the purpose of the visit is. Is it a desire to learn ‘ground truth’ and come away with a better understanding of both the tactical situation and the morale and welfare conditions of those sent to war? Or is it, perhaps, a moment for the visitor to grandstand; to pose in front of the cameras in a mock display of concern, in a - relatively - safe attempt to earn brownie points from an audience far away from the battlefield? In the case of Putin, we can probably discount the first reason. It is over a year now since he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In that time he has had ample opportunity to show any genuine concern for his troops, in the form of decent conditions of service, equipment, training or leadership. He has chosen not to. He could also, if he wished, have gained a far better idea of what was going on at the front by not indulging the toadies in the Kremlin through the creation of a sycophantic and dishonest reporting system. In the course of the last year, in fact since he first gained power over 20 years ago, Putin’s interest in military matters has sprung more from historical fantasy than reality. He dreams of an empire long since departed - and which lasted less than seven decades anyway - but is not inclined to invest in the human capital necessary to breathe life into that particular chimaera. Instead, he takes the only course available to him: perform heavily choreographed visits to ecstatic and well-fed followers, in the hope that such activity will convince the world of his magnanimity and omnipotence. However, the more he pampers himself with ridiculous displays such as this, that are inconsistent with his actions when away from the front and born of a need to show progress and control, the more the fine new clothes worn by this particular emperor are revealed to the Russian public and the world. Must-read stories
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