Vladimir Putin’s Easter greetings to troops on Ukraine frontline
Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk regions to meet military commanders, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
: Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk regions to meet military commanders, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
“The supreme commander of Russian Federation armed forces has visited the headquarters of the Dniepr military grouping” in the Kherson region in the south, as well as Russian national guard headquarters in the Luhansk region in the east, the Kremlin said. It did not say when the trip took place.
It marked the first time Mr Putin has visited the two regions, which are partly controlled by Russian troops, since Moscow annexed them with two other Ukrainian regions last September.
“It’s important for me to hear your opinion on the situation, to listen to you and to exchange information,” the President said in a video released by the Kremlin.
The Russian leader wished the troops a happy Easter, which Orthodox Christians marked on Sunday.
The revelation of the visit came as G7 foreign ministers warned that countries helping Russia wage war in Ukraine would “face severe costs”, in a statement issued after two days of talks in Japan.
The top diplomats announced no new measures against Moscow but pledged to step up sanctions enforcement while warning “third parties to cease assistance to Russia’s war, or face severe costs”.
They also condemned a Russian threat to station nuclear weapons in Belarus as “unacceptable”.
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Minister met Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia, as Washington criticised the South American leader’s recent remarks on US defence support for Ukraine.
Lula is fresh off a trip to China and the United Arab Emirates, during which he raised eyebrows in the West by accusing the US of “encouraging the war” in Ukraine.
He also said the US and Europe “need to start talking about peace”, and that Kyiv shared the blame for the conflict, which began in February last year when Russian forces poured into Ukraine in an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government and annex swaths of the pro-Western country.
His remarks echoed a line frequently used by Moscow and Beijing, which blame the West for the war.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, thanked Lula overnight on Monday for his offer to mediate peace talks on the 14-month war.
But the visit, and Lula’s recent remarks, sparked criticism from the White House, which has led support for Ukraine.
“In this case, Brazil is parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without at all looking at the facts,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
He described Lula’s message on the war as “deeply problematic”.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, who also met his Russian counterpart earlier in the day, shot back, saying: “I don’t know how or why he reached that conclusion but I do not agree at all.”
Despite Lula’s comments about the US, the 77-year-old, who returned to power in January after serving two terms from 2003 to 2010, is also seeking closer ties with Washington.
His visit to China and the UAE, postponed by a bout of pneumonia, came after a White House meeting in February with US President Joe Biden.
Brazil has not joined Western nations in imposing sanctions on Russia for its invasion, and has refused requests to supply ammunition to Ukraine.
After meeting his Brazilian counterpart on Monday, Mr Lavrov said: “We are grateful to our Brazilian friends for their clear understanding of the genesis of the situation (in Ukraine). We are grateful for their desire to contribute to finding ways of settling this situation.
“We are interested in resolving the conflict as soon as possible.”
But he added that any solution would have to be based on “multipolarity”, ” accusing the West of “trying to dominate the international arena”.
Mr Kirby said Washington dis not have “any objection to any country that wants to try to bring an end to the war”. “That could happen right now, today, if Mr Putin would stop attacking Ukraine and pull its troops out.”
AFP
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