- A few days after Putin’s midnight visit in Ukraine, Zelensky visited troops near the front lines.
- Putin’s visit to Mariupol featured an edited video and was criticized by Ukrainian officials.
- The photo shows the two leaders visiting two cities, one of which is a battlefield.
Days after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to the occupied city of Mariupol, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Bakhmut’s army.
Putin’s late-night trip occurred last weekend. State media followed a meeting with residents in what the Russian president described as a “little piece of paradise” in the war-torn, occupied Ukrainian city. He drove through the streets of the city, saw inside new apartment complexes, visited children’s playgrounds and renovated theaters.
However, Nikko tells a different story for Mariupol. None of the video footage showed ruins spread across the city.Former mayor of the city where the Russian invasion destroyed buildings and infrastructure in a large area and killed tens of thousands told the Associated Press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) visits the recently renovated theater in Mariupol.
Russian TV pool via AP
But while it looked like a carefully structured PR trip for Putin, the visit had one media snafu. We shared the official video, but state media discovered that the video had been edited to remove the heckle comments from the background.
In the original video, Putin meets locals near his new apartment complex in the middle of the night. During the conversation, a woman was heard interrupting President Putin and the residents, yelling, “It’s not real! It’s just a pretense!”
A later version of the video was released without the heckle comments.
This grab, taken from a video released as POOL by Russian broadcaster VGTRK on March 19, 2023, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) visiting the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on March 18, 2023, in an apartment. It is shown talking to residents.
Poole/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian officials have condemned the trip, which took place just two days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, comparing it to a murderer returning to the scene of the crime.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks with troops near the front line in Bakhmut.
Ukrainian President Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Zelensky made a completely different trip on Wednesday, visiting soldiers fighting on the front lines of Bakhmut.
Photos show the Ukrainian president shaking hands with soldiers, taking selfies and commending the army.
“I am honored to be here today,” he said. According to the BBC “East of our country, in Donbass and to award, thank and shake hands with our heroes.”
Zelensky’s own PR trip comes as he calls on Western powers to provide more arms, military equipment and aid to Ukraine in repelling Russian aggression.
The region has seen some of the bloodiest fighting in the war, with staggering casualties on both sides over the past few weeks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky visits troops near the front line in Bakhmut.
Ukrainian President Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The Ukrainian military refuses to give up Bakhmut, although experts are divided on its strategic importance to both sides.
Zelensky repeats vowed not to leave Bakhmut emphasized that his chief military adviser called for strengthening the position of Ukrainian forces in the city in order to inflict maximum damage to Russian forces in the region.
Russia suffered heavy losses in Bakhmut, the longest battle of the war so far. An intelligence assessment released last week by the UK Ministry of Defense suggested that Russia’s “combat potential” was so depleted that “even localized offensive actions are currently unsustainable”.
That said, top military analysts have questioned the logic of Ukraine continuing to commit valuable resources and personnel to the Battle of Bakhmut, which could launch another counteroffensive and take territory away from Russian occupiers. It warns that it could undermine Kiev’s ability to reclaim.
Bahmut’s attrition rate used to be an advantage during combat, but now it’s a big disadvantage [Russian] An army holding high ground on the flank of a city. Many of Russia’s losses are prisoners of lesser military value than Ukrainian soldiers,” said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute. on Twitter Earlier this week.
Former U.S. Marine Lee said, “By committing the forces necessary to keep Bakhmut on hold (if its attrition rate is unfavorable), Ukraine will have one of the forces available for the more strategically important spring offensive. There is a risk of losing the department,” he said. The infantry officer continued: But Lee also stressed that the issue is not “black or white”, but that “Russia may overextend in an attempt to occupy the city, leaving it vulnerable to counterattack.”