Kremlin claims Putin visits Luhansk, Kherson oblasts

An April 18 brief released by the official Kremlin website and widely reported by state media claims that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin recently visited the occupied territories of Kherson and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine.

Putin allegedly visited the headquarters of the Russian military's Dnepr military group in occupied Kherson Oblast and the headquarters of the East National Guard in occupied Luhansk Oblast.

Putin is said to have spoken with Russian military commanders about the situation near Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Although there are wider shots without him in frame showing the occupied town of Henichesk in Kherson Oblast, the claim that Putin actually ventured so deep into Ukrainian territory has not yet been verified.

A month prior, on March 18, Putin visited occupied Crimea and Mariupol. At the latter location, Ukraine's defense ministry claimed that he visited at night deliberately to avoid the wholesale destruction of the city coming into frame.

The report came one day after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the Russian official suspected of orchestrating the abductions of over 16,000 Ukrainian children.

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