Ukraine war: Putin makes surprise visit to occupied regions of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited occupied parts of the Ukrainian region of Kherson.

He attended a military meeting to hear reports from commanders, according to the Kremlin.

Mr Putin is also thought to have visited the Luhansk region. Russia annexed Kherson and Luhansk last year.

Such trips by the Russian leader are rare, although he made a surprise visit to the city of Mariupol in March.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted that Mr Putin was touring “the occupied and ruined territories” of Ukraine “to enjoy the crimes of his minions for the last time”.

“Putin’s degradation is impressive,” he said.

Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the visit had taken place on 17 April. However, footage initially posted on the Kremlin’s website contradicts this statement.

In the clip, Mr Putin can be clearly heard saying that the Easter holiday is “coming up”. Orthodox Easter was celebrated in Russia on 16 April, the day before the date claimed by Mr Peskov.

The video on the Kremlin website has since been edited, with Mr Putin’s words “coming up” removed.

The president is also said to have enquired about the situation in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow has also claimed as part of Russia.

He is quoted as telling the military meeting in Kherson that while he did not want to distract them from their duties, “it is important for me to hear your opinion on how the situation is developing, to listen to you, to exchange information”.

Russian troops retreated from the city of Kherson late last year, losing the only regional capital it had managed to capture since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

However, some of the region remains under Russian control.