Vladimir Putin has faced international condemnation after apparently visiting occupied areas of Ukraine as his forces stepped up their brutal use of heavy artillery in the devastated city of Bakhmut,
The Russian President was shown arriving in a military helicopter and greeting senior commanders in the footage broadcast on state television.
The Kremlin said Putin met troops at a command post in the southern Kherson region in his second visit to occupied Ukraine this year.
He then travelled to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard in eastern Luhansk to hear reports from his military leaders.
Both are areas which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed.
Russian troops retreated from the city of Kherson last November and have been reinforcing their positions on the opposite bank of the Dnipro river in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
It comes as meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers in Japan condemned Putin’s plan to station shorter-range, tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a Moscow ally which borders Ukraine.
It was the first time Russia has said it will station nuclear weapons on the territory of another country since the end of the Cold War three decades ago.
In a joint statement, foreign ministers from Britain, the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada, said: “Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and its threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus are unacceptable.
“Any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences,” they said.
The countries have all imposed economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow claims to have have control of four Ukrainian regions but its forces are locked in a grinding artillery battle in the eastern Donbas.
Heavy losses have been experienced by both sides since Putin triggered the deadliest European conflict since World War Two last February.
His army is now stepping up air strikes in Bakhmut, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said today.
Fighting in and around the eastern Ukrainian city has been the focus of the war for months and the exact sequencing of any major drawdown of forces has become a “critical question” for both sides, British defence chiefs believe.
In its latest intelligence update the Ministry of Defence said Ukraine wants “to free-up an offensive force while Russia likely aspires to regenerate an operational reserve”.
It added that “heavy fighting has continued along the Donbas front line” and was a “realistic possibility” that Russia has reduced troop numbers and is decreasing offensive action around Donetsk city “to divert resources towards the Bakhmut” region .
In Bakhmut itself, Russian forces continue to make “creeping advances”, the MoD added.
It comes amid reports that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will appeal against his arrest and detention in Moscow on charges of espionage today.
According to a public Russian judicial document, seen by Reuters, a Russian court will today hear a complaint filed by Mr Gershkovich against the decision to keep him in custody in Lefortovo prison.
The hearing is believed to be procedural and will cover how Mr Gershkovich should be detained while he awaits trial, not the substance of the charges against him.
