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Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the Kherson region of Ukraine as Russian forces—and Western observers—wait for a long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Putin discussed Russian positions in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, the Kremlin said, which Moscow declared as annexed by Russia in fall 2022. Putin also visited troops in the eastern Luhansk region, which along with Donetsk, forms the fiercely contested Donbas.
The trip was "not prepared in advance," Russian state media said.
Russian forces have been preparing defenses in southern Ukraine for weeks, likely in anticipation of a Ukrainian spring counteroffensive. Ukrainian sources have said Russian fighters are "building fortifications and defensive lines" in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank noted Monday.
In a sweeping counteroffensive in 2022, Kyiv's fighters retook swathes of territory, including in the Kherson region and the northeast Kharkiv area. By early November 2022, Russian troops were retreating from Kherson city, and Kyiv reclaimed the major regional capital that had fallen in the first days of the invasion.
On Tuesday Russian state media published footage of Putin purportedly in Kherson and Luhansk, preparing to meet Moscow's commanders.
During his visit to Kherson, Putin heard reports from military leaders including Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, the Kremlin said.
On Sunday, the British defense ministry said Teplinsky, the head of Russia's airborne forces, had returned to the battlefields in Ukraine in a "major role." He was removed from the Kremlin's operations in Ukraine back in January.
The possible "reshuffle" of senior military commanders in Ukraine after Russia's stalled winter offensive shows the Kremlin is likely preparing for a potential Ukrainian counteroffensive, the ISW think tank said Sunday.
Ukrainian, Russian and Western sources have long discussed an expected a push by Kyiv against Moscow's forces during the spring months. However, Ukraine has released few details of its military plans, and urged media silence around its anticipated next moves.
On Monday, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, referred not to a timetable for a counteroffensive, but to Ukraine's preparedness to execute successful operations.
"If we aren't ready, then nobody will start unprepared," he told the Associated Press.
Also on Monday, Russian state media reported that Ukraine was "stealthily" amassing forces around Kupyansk, in the Kharkiv region, for a "strike" in the Donbas.
On Monday and Tuesday Ukraine did not specify any offensive actions around Kupyansk, only reporting "unsuccessful" Russian operations.
"We are very concentrated on the preparation of our counteroffensive, together with our partners and especially with the U.S.," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told Fox News earlier in April.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more