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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visited the eastern city of Avdiivka, his office said on Tuesday, after the Kremlin announced that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had again traveled to the occupied territories of Ukraine near the front line, as the two leaders sought to present. strength and gather his forces.
The split-screen image comes ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counterattack to retake territory held by Russian troops. The trip also happened during the battle for the main city of Bakhmut in the east, with Moscow’s airstrikes and attacks from several directions simultaneously, the Ukrainian general said.
Mr Putin visited the southern Kherson region and the eastern Luhansk region, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said. This is the Russian leader’s second trip near the front lines in a month. Military analysts said Ukraine could target Kherson and Luhansk in a counterattack.
Mr Zelensky announced his visit on Tuesday in a post on the social messaging app Telegram. But it was not immediately clear when Mr Putin would make the trip, although Mr Peskov and the Kremlin said it would be on Monday. The Russian leader was seen wearing different clothes on two parts of the trip and could be heard in video footage released by Moscow talking to his commanders about the upcoming Easter, which the Orthodox Church celebrates on Sunday.
His remarks, which appeared in a video broadcast by Russian state media, were removed from later versions. Mr Peskov said Mr Putin meant the Easter season, which lasts for several weeks, and insisted the trip took place on Monday.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, condemned Mr Putin’s trip, saying on Twitter that it was only a “special tour” of the region the Russian leader had ravaged while ordering a full-scale invasion of his neighbour. February 2022.
During a trip to the town of Avdiivka – which Russian forces have been trying to capture for more than a year, leaving ruins and forcing almost all residents to flee – Mr. Zelensky sat down with the troops and wished them a happy Orthodox Easter. , his office said.
Ukrainian leaders made two trips in two straight days to the front lines in March, as a sign of determination and thanks to the soldiers on the front lines. He made an unannounced visit near the Bakhmut region, and in the same month, he visited an area in the Kherson region that was devastated by Russia’s campaign to destroy energy infrastructure.
In December, Mr Zelensky also traveled to Bakhmut, which has become a powerful symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the face of Moscow’s relentless attacks.
The two visits this week were announced as fighting intensified, including in Bakhmut, where the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that its forces had captured two more areas in the south and west of the city, although the claim could not be verified.
“The Bakhmut sector remains the center of the fighting,” Kyiv ground forces commander General Oleksandr Syrsky said Tuesday on Telegram.
“Currently, the enemy has increased the activity of heavy artillery and the number of airstrikes, turning the city into ruins,” said General Syrsky. But Ukrainian forces remain under control, he added.
Fighting also raged in Avdiivka, where the Russian offensive has devastated an entire neighborhood and virtually cut off access to humanitarian aid for the remaining residents. This city used to have 30,000 people, but many of them fled. Ukrainian officials estimate that approximately 1,800 residents refused to evacuate.
After Mr. Putin’s trip to Kherson, Russian troops stormed a market in downtown Kherson, killing one person and wounding at least six others, Mr. Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram.
In total, Russian forces have launched 342 shells in the Kherson region in the previous 24 hours, Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration, wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.
Mr Putin last visited the occupied territory of Ukraine last month, traveling to Crimea and the city of Mariupol – a day after an international court issued an arrest warrant, accusing him of war crimes.
This time, he appears to be traveling in secret and without his regular staff, which usually consists of photographers and video operators. The Kremlin released rough and shaky video footage of the trip.
Mr Putin took a military helicopter to Kherson, although it was unclear where he was visiting. Photos and videos released by Russian state media show him emerging from a helicopter that landed in a rural area east of the Dnipro River.
Mr Putin also visited the Russian military headquarters in Luhansk, the Kremlin said in a statement. The Russian president was not accompanied by the defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, or the chief of the military general staff, Valery V. Gerasimov, according to footage broadcast by state media.
At the opening, Mr. Putin told the military commander, “It is important for me to hear your opinion on the current situation, to share information.”
Russia captured the city of Kherson, the regional capital, in March last year, as its forces advanced north from Crimea and crossed the Dnipro with virtually no opposition. It was only a matter of time since a full-scale invasion of Moscow took over the regional capital.
The success lasted only a few months.
Last summer, the Ukrainian government chose the Kherson region for its first major counteroffensive. Armed with military aid from the United States and other allies, it targeted Russian forces and military infrastructure in the province with rockets and fierce battles between the provinces on both sides of the river.
Moscow has deployed tens of thousands of troops in Kherson City, but with key bridges damaged or impassable, they are exposed. Before the full-scale battle for the city began, the Russian commander ordered a retreat to the east bank of the river in November. Ukrainian forces then entered the city of Kherson and recaptured the Kharkiv region in September.
After the retreat, Russian forces still bombard the Ukrainian-held city of Kherson and surrounding areas with daily rocket attacks, killing civilians, destroying towns and villages and making normal life almost impossible.
Ukrainian officials and military experts say Russia has built up its forces in the Kherson region, laying mines, increasing the number of troops and building defensive barriers in anticipation of a Ukrainian attack.
Kyiv has kept the location and timing of the retaliatory attack under wraps, but the campaign to recapture land in the south could, if successful, mean that Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, becomes part of the Russian-held territory in the east. Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces have also been pressed to defend the western part of Bakhmut as Russian forces have been steadily advancing on the city for months of fighting.
“This is where the enemy has concentrated most of their efforts and is determined to take control of the city at any cost,” General Syrsky said.
Russia began an attack on Bakhmut last summer, and the war has led to heavy casualties on both sides, although military experts say Russian losses are significantly higher.
If Russian forces capture all of Bakhmut, it will mark the first seizure of a key city in months.
Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, on Tuesday expressed confidence in Ukraine’s planned counter-offensive, but signaled that the war would continue into next year.
“I’m optimistic that between this year and next year, I think Ukraine will continue to have momentum and a position of strength,” Mr. Wallace told reporters in Washington. “I also think we have to be realistic: There will never be a single magic moment when Russia collapses.”
Eric Schmitt, Yousur Al-Hlou and Masha Froliak contribute reports.
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