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Russian President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin - Russian politician.

Born Oct. 7, 1952, in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. Prez asked to hear proposals from the military's high command on how to continue the campaign in Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing the Kremlin.

Putin was speaking during a visit to the joint headquarters of the branches of troops participating in the so-called special military operation.

In video footage released by the Kremlin, the Russian president is presiding over a meeting with about a dozen people sitting around a round table.

Next to him are Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Gen.

Valery Gerasimov - both harshly criticized by the more hard-line commentators.

Putin was then shown to another conference table at headquarters, inviting those present from the military command to make suggestions on how to proceed from here.

"Dear comrades, we will listen to the commanders of each operational branch. I would like to hear your proposals for our most short- and medium-term actions," Putin said.

New wave of Russian attacks against Ukraine

The photos of the meeting published on the Kremlin website show that Air Force General Sergei Surovikin, who is also the commander-in-chief of all Russian troops participating in the fighting in Ukraine, was also present at the meeting.

Putin spent all of yesterday at headquarters, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency.

Further details of the Russian president's visit, including where exactly the headquarters are located, were not released.

A series of defeats over the past 10 months of fighting, which have led to Russian withdrawals from the Kyiv region and Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, and more recently from Kherson, have forced Putin to resort to mobilizing reserves and prompted surprise criticism from the military bloggers and some people from the entourage of the Russian president.

Since Surovikin was appointed commander-in-chief of the "special military operation" in Ukraine in October, Russian ground forces have focused more on defense than offensive action, as waves of airstrikes on Ukrainian cities have left millions of civilians without heat, electricity and water. for whole days in the conditions of the coming winter season, notes Reuters.

Vladimir Putin