Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy face off on Ukraine frontline

An elderly woman has been charged in Russia for complimenting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on his appearance and wit.

An elderly Russian woman has been charged for allegedly “discrediting” the Russian military after she described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “handsome.”

The Shcherbinsky District Court of Moscow court slapped pensioner Olga Slegina, 70, with a 40,000-ruble fine (A$730) for comments she made in a canteen at a sanatorium in Nalchik last December, according to the Memorial human rights centre, a group outlawed by the Kremlin.

Ms Slegina was accused of responding to a waitress’ remark that Mr Zelenskyy was “ugly” by complimenting the Ukrainian leader on his appearance and wit, at the establishment in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

“Zelenskyy is a handsome young man with a good sense of humour, everyone laughed at his jokes earlier,” Ms Slegina reportedly said.

She also asked: “Don’t Ukrainians in your republic shout ’Glory to Ukraine’, as they do here in our Moscow?”

Mr Zelenskyy, 45, was a successful comedian before becoming Ukraine’s president in 2019. He had performed on Russian state television, including at a New Year’s Eve show in 2013, a year before the Kremlin annexed Crimea.

A few days later, plain-clothed police reportedly turned up at Ms Slegina’s door and told her three people from the cafe had contacted authorities to make statements about her. They claimed Ms Slegina had “praised Zelenskyy”.

The police officer who detained Ms Slegina told her: “You have no right to praise him because he is our enemy,” according to Memorial.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been called many things - but call him a heartthrob in Russia and you’ll likely end up behind bars or with a fine. Picture: AFP.

The woman replied that the conversation was only about the appearance of the president of Ukraine.

The pensioner was taken under escort to a police car in front of holidaymakers and taken to the police station.

After interrogation, she signed a document, which Memorial claims, she could not read, because she was without glasses and suffers from cataracts.

Her case is the latest in a series of Soviet-style denunciations since the start of the war. Last month a man was jailed for 14 days in Moscow after a fellow Metro passenger told police that he had been looking at anti-war images on his phone. More than 20,000 people have been arrested in Russia for protesting against the war amid a crackdown on dissent that is unprecedented since the rule of Stalin.

PUTIN AND ZELENSKYY FACE OFF ON UKRAINE FRONTLINE

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy made separate trips to the battlefield frontline as the two leaders of Russia and Ukraine’s belligerent armies attempted to flex strength amid a brutal war of attrition.

With Ukraine expected to launch a counteroffensive at any moment, the Kremlin announced that Mr Putin travelled to occupied areas of Ukraine close to the front lines in the Donbas.

Just hours later, Kyiv announced that Mr Zelenskyy visited one of the most hotly contested towns in the region.

The timing of the two leaders showing their defiance in the region where fighting is fiercest comes after US intelligence leaks showed the true extent of casualties suffered on both sides of the conflict.

Mr Putin travelled by military helicopter to the region of Kherson, in the south, and a military headquarters of Luhansk, in the east, in what the Kremlin said was his second trip to the front lines in the past month.

Vladimir Putin visiting the headquarters of the Dniepr military grouping in the Kherson region of Ukraine. Picture: AFP

Vladimir Putin welcomed by military leaders. Picture: AFP

Vladimir Putin tours military facilities on the frontline. Picture: AFP

While the Kremlin did not pinpoint when the trips took place, shortly after the announcement Mr Zelenskyy visited the embattled town of Avdikva, in the east near Donetsk, where Russian forces have been trying to seize control for more than a year.

He sat with troops at “advanced positions” in the town, which has been razed to the ground and left in ruins, as he wished them a happy Orthodox Easter, according to his office.

Kyiv accused Mr Putin of visiting the occupied territories of Kherson and Luhansk “to enjoy the crimes of his minions for the last time”.

“Putin’s degradation is impressive,” tweeted Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Dressed in a heavy blue jacket, Mr Putin, 70, was shown on Russian state television descending from a military helicopter in Russian-held Ukraine and greeting senior military commanders.

The eastern and southern regions have been the major battlefields since Russia’s invasion, and are the expected front lines of the coming counteroffensive Ukraine has been preparing to launch in the spring.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits troops in Avdiivka, Donetsk region. Picture: AFP

Russia has heavily shelled frontline town of Avdiivka. Picture: AFP

Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes a selfie in a show of defiance on the frontline. Picture: AFP

PUTIN EYES PACIFIC PIVOT AMID CHINA ALLIANCE

Mr Putin praised the “very high level” of military drills in the Pacific as Moscow seeks closer ties with China amid a stand-off with the West.

The surprise drills come as Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu is in Russia on a visit which will last until Wednesday.

The exercises in the Pacific involved over 25,000 Russian military personnel, 167 warships and support vessels, including 12 submarines as well as 89 aircraft and helicopters, Shoigu said.

“The first stage of this surprise inspection did indeed take place at a very high level,” Putin said during a televised meeting with Shoigu.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu at the Kremlin in Moscow. Picture: AFP

“Today we have clear priorities for the use of the armed forces and, above all, this concerns the Ukrainian direction and everything related to protecting our people in the Donbas” in eastern Ukraine, Putin said.

Mr Putin received Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month in Moscow for a summit showing the nations’ united front against the West.

During a meeting with Mr Putin and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Li hailed ties with Moscow, saying they “surpass the military-political alliances of the Cold War era”.

Both Russia and China have expressed “concern” over NATO’s growing presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Russian and China announced surprise military drills in the Pacific. AFP

Asked about Beijing enhancing military ties with Moscow, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the two countries were closer than ever following the summit between Mr Putin and Xi Jinping.

“China is ready to work with Russia to fully implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and move forward our comprehensive strategic partnership of co-ordination for a new era,” he said.

The surprise joint Russia-China military drills come after the United States Navy sailed one of its warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on the first day of the Putin-Shangfu meeting.

The US sends a military vessel to the Taiwan Strait to flex muscles, which poses a threat to China’s sovereignty and security and undermines regional peace and stability,” Wenbin added.

“China urges the US to immediately end such moves of violation and provocation and stop causing troubles for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

CHINA RUSSIA TIES STRONGEST SINCE COLD WAR

Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu hailed ties with Moscow during a meeting with Mr Putin in the Kremlin.

“We have very strong ties. They surpass the military-political alliances of the Cold War era … They are very stable,” he said in translated remarks broadcast on Russian TV on Sunday local time.

It comes as Ukrainian authorities claimed Russia bombed a church in the Zaporizhzhia region on Orthodox Easter Sunday.

Photographs shared online showed the building destroyed, with just a pile of rubble, debris and a burnt hole in the ground remaining.

Supporters of Ukraine took to social media to share their shock at the church bombing in the village of Komyshuvakha.

A church was bombed in the Zaporizhzhia region on Orthodox Easter Sunday. Picture: Reuters

A man carries an Orthodox icon at the sacred site. Picture: Reuters

“On Easter night, the Russians destroyed a church near Zaporizhzhia. And they call Ukrainians Nazis and Satanists,” Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko posted.

“Russia celebrates Orthodox Easter by overnight bombing of a church in the suburbs of my home city Zaporizhzhia,” another commented.

Ukrainian Anton Gerashchenko took to the social media platform to confirm the church was empty and there were no casualties or injuries.

Russia is believed to be behind the attack. Picture: Reuters

He also claimed that Russia attacked Snihurivka, in Mykolaiv region, killing two teenagers.

It comes as Russian leader Vladimir Putin, accompanied by a huge security team, joined worshippers at a service in Moscow, led by Russia’s top bishop and ally of the president.

Mr Putin was pictured attending Moscow’s largest cathedral, Christ the Saviour, to mark Orthodox Easter.

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a candle during an Orthodox Easter service at the Christ the Saviour cathedral in Moscow. Picture: AFP

Footage showed the country’s top churchman Patriarch Kirill entering the midnight service surrounded by dozens of suited security operatives mostly in red ties.

They were believed to be crack FSO Federal Protection Service guards who are routinely armed and whose task is to keep Putin and other top officials safe.

Vladimir Putin and Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin attend an Orthodox Easter service in Moscow. Picture: AFP

RUSSIAN ATTACK ON BLOCK OF FLATS KILLS 11

The death toll from a Russian strike on a block of flats in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk climbed to 11 on Sunday as Moscow claimed advances near embattled Bakhmut.

Sloviansk lies in a part of the eastern Donetsk region that is under Ukrainian control. According to Kyiv, it was struck by seven missiles which hit five buildings, five homes, a school and an administrative building.

“The number of victims of the shelling of Sloviansk has risen to 11 people,” a spokeswoman for the State Emergency Service in the region, Veronika Bakhal, said in televised remarks.

A previous toll reported nine dead, including a two-year-old boy who was rescued from the rubble but died on his way to hospital, and 21 wounded.

Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska sent her condolences to the child’s family during this “indescribable grief”.

A young girl is rescued from a building that was struck when Russian forces shelled the eastern Ukraine city of Sloviansk on Saturday. Picture: AFP

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced Russia for “brutally shelling” residential buildings and “killing people in broad daylight”.

AFP journalists yesterday saw rescue workers digging for survivors on the top floor of the typical Soviet-era housing block, and black smoke billowing from homes on fire across the street.

The street below — including a playground — was covered in concrete dust and debris, including torn pages from school books and children’s drawings.

In southern Ukraine, a 48-year-old woman and her 28-year-old daughter were killed Sunday in Russian shelling in the city of Kherson, the regional administration said on Telegram.

BAKHMUT ADVANCES

Sloviansk lies 45 km northwest of the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut, the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia’s invasion.

Russian troops have been battling since last summer to capture the town in eastern Ukraine, which has taken on huge symbolic importance even though analysts say it has little strategic value.

Kyiv has said the battle for the town is key to holding back Russian forces along the entire eastern front and Sloviansk is one of the cities that will be at risk if Kyiv loses the battle.

A distraught woman is comforted by rescuers in front of a partially destroyed residential building after a Russian strike in Sloviansk. Picture: AFP

Russia claimed advances on the northern and southern outskirts of Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of 70,000 people.

“Wagner assault units have successfully advanced, capturing two districts on the northern and southern outskirts of the city,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a briefing.

The Russian Wagner mercenary group, headed by Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, has spearheaded much of the fighting for the city.

According to the ministry, Ukrainian troops “while retreating, are deliberately destroying city infrastructure and residential buildings in order to slow the advance” of Moscow’s forces.

AFP was unable to verify the situation on the ground.

The town has become a fixation of military commanders, leading to a brutal nine-month war of attrition. Both Russia and Ukraine are believed to have suffered huge losses in the battle for Bakhmut.

BRAZIL’S LULA ON UKRAINE

Russia said it was pushing to take the western districts of the heavily destroyed salt mining town.

On Friday, Moscow claimed to have cut off Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut. Kyiv denied the claim, saying it had access to its troops and was able to send in munitions.

On the diplomatic front, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Sunday that the United States should stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine, as he wrapped a state visit to China.

He also urged the European Union to “start talking about peace”.

Emergency workers rescue an injured elderly man from a unit block that was shelled by Russian forces. Picture: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

Western capitals have been Ukraine’s key backers, supplying Kyiv with arms, ammunition as well as financial aid.

President Zelenskyy has said he will not negotiate with Russia as long as President Vladimir Putin is in power, while Moscow said this month it wants any Ukraine peace talks to focus on creating a “new world order”.

Russia has long said it was leading a struggle against Washington’s dominance over the international stage, and argues the Ukraine offensive is part of that fight.

– With AFP