Vladimir Putin appeared to limp as he was filmed arriving for his second visit inside an occupied area of Ukraine.
Amid speculation about the Russian dictator's health, Putin was seen exiting a helicopter on a supposedly spontaneous visit to visit his top commanders.
He was also filmed getting out of an SUV before being greeted by his top brass - and as he walked, he appeared to limp.
It comes over speculation Putin has cancer and there are plans to "throw" the war in Ukraine while he's undergoing treatment, according to a leaked US intelligence report last week.
And the dictator recently also reported “partial loss of sensation in his right arm and leg” requiring urgent medical attention, according to General SVR Telegram channel, a Russian outlet which frequently makes claims about his ailing health
The Kremlin said Putin was at the "Dnipro headquarters" in the Kherson direction inside occupied Ukraine before going to the Luhansk People's Republic to the headquarters of the Vostok National Guard - a region annexed by his forces in 2014.
It was Putin's first visit to both the Kherson region and the LPD.
Russia annexed the Kherson and Luhansk regions along with the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in September in a move that was rejected by much of the world as illegal.
It appears that the visit took place several days ago, before Orthodox Easter last weekend, but it was only announced today. It is unclear why carefully edited footage was delayed in its release, evidently by a few days.
A clip shows a road sign to Henichesk, a port city along the Sea of Azov in the Kherson Oblast of southern Ukraine.
Putin told his commanders: "It is important for me to hear your opinion on how the situation is developing, to listen to you, to exchange information."
He presented senior military figures with an Easter gift of a religious icon originally belonging to a tsarist-era defence minister - and they appeared happy to receive it.
It appears that the video was filmed before Orthodox Easter as Putin said: "It will be Easter coming now and so..."
During his visit, the dictator reportedly heard reports from Commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, Commander of the Dnepr Forces Group, Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, and Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, Chief of Ground Forces and other military leaders.
Journalist Dmitry Kolezev said: "Surprisingly, during the trip, Putin was first in a shirt and tie, and then in a black turtleneck.
"Either he likes to change clothes so much, or they filmed on different days."
The Kremlin did not give the exact timing of the visit but said: "The Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation visited the headquarters of the Dnipro grouping of troops in the Kherson direction and the headquarters of the Vostok National Guard in the Luhansk People's Republic."
Several sources cited the Kremlin as saying Putin's usual visits to the occupied termites had not been planned in advance.
Putin had last month reportedly visited Mariupol in occupied Ukraine - but the visit sparked immediate claims that he had used a body double.
Similarly, this visit took place without the usual security that surrounds Putin.
Assuming it was Putin on both occasions, it would be only his second known visit to areas of invaded Ukraine. His war is believed to have cost the lives of more than 200,000.
Last month, Putin visited the Russian-held Sea of Azov port city of Mariupol, which was captured by Russian troops in May after two months of fierce fighting.
The locations of the military headquarters in the Kherson and Luhansk regions were not disclosed, so it was not possible to assess how close they are to the front line.
Mr Putin's trips to the military headquarters come as Ukraine is preparing for a new counter-offensive to reclaim the occupied territories.
Russia's war in Ukraine has turned into a stalemate amid heavy fighting in the country's east, particularly around the town of Bakhmut, which for eight-and-a-half months has been the stage for the war's longest and bloodiest fight.
Ukrainian officials have said they are buying time by depleting Russian forces in the battle while Kyiv prepares a counter-offensive.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has argued that if Russia wins the Bakhmut battle, it could allow Mr Putin to begin building international support for a deal that would require Ukraine to make unacceptable compromises to end the war.
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said in an interview in Kyiv that Ukraine's allies are helping the government to achieve the level of technical equipment necessary to launch the attack, delivering heavy armoured vehicles and ammunition.
He expressed confidence that Ukraine will be able to return all its occupied territories.
"We will defeat Russia," he said. "If you have a strong inner spirit, you will definitely win. And we always had it strong. This is something that always annoyed the Russians."
