Putin scrambles to meet Russian military leaders as Ukraine counter-offensive continues
Vladimir Putin made the visit amid Ukraine counter-offensive (stock image)
REUTERS
Vladimir Putin has held a meeting of Russia's top military generals as Ukraine continues to make advances on the southeastern front.
Ukraine launched a long-anticipated counter-offensive against Russia earlier this summer as it seeks to take back land lost to Moscow in the initial invasion of the country last year.
Putin's meeting came as Ukraine liberated the small village of Urozhaine in the Donetsk region, pushing forward in its drive towards the Sea of Azov to potentially cut the Russian land bridge to Crimea.
The bridge is vital for Moscow's supply routes and has been heavily targeted by Ukraine with explosives in recent months.
Russia has suffered a number of setbacks in recent months
REUTERS
"Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operation group in Rostov-on-Don," the Kremlin said in a statement.
It added that Putin listened to reports from Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Army in charge of Moscow's operations in Ukraine, and other top military commanders and officers.
The Kremlin did not provide any additional details of the meeting and it was not clear when the meeting took place.
Video footage released by Russia's state news agency appear to show the meeting taking place at night, with Putin giving a brief handshake to Gerasimov before quickly moving inside a building.
Rostov-on-Don is just 100km for the Ukraine border and is the home to the Russian southern military district command.
While Kyiv's advances have been slower than hoped for, Russia's military has found itself under intense pressure and has struggled to make inroads.
Russia has found itself suffering from increasingly stretched military resources and dissent in the ranks.
A number of senior Russian officials who have overseen failures in the invasion have also ended up mysteriously dead in recent months.
Earlier this week Colonel General Gennady Zhidkol, who led the Ukrainian invasion and was purged by Vladimir Putin, has been found dead.
He died aged 58 following what Russian online news outlet Readovka claimed was a "lengthy illness".
Colonel General Gennady Zhidkol, who led the Ukrainian invasion and was purged by Vladimir Putin, was found dead this week
Wiki Commons imagesThe general led the invasion briefly as commander of the Southern Grouping of Forces before General Sergei "Armageddon" Surovikin took over in October.
He was sacked from his role as commander of Putin's "special military operation" in Ukraine in October 2022 after failing to secure the city of Kharkiv.
Following his dismissal, Zhidko had not been seen over recent months.
His death was confirmed by governor of Khabarovsk region Mikhail Degtyarev, but there was no official announcement.