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Agence France-Presse

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the commander of Moscow’s Ukraine offensive in an army HQ in the southern Russia city of Rostov-on-Don, the Kremlin said early Saturday.
Moscow gave no details on when the meeting took place but footage released by state media indicated it was at night.
The Russian leader met the generals after the US approved the transfer of Dutch and Danish F-16s to Kyiv.
“Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operation group in Rostov-on-Don,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
“The head of state listened to briefings by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, commanders of directions and other senior officers of the group.”
The RIA Novosti news agency published a video of the Russian leader, wearing a suit, stepping out of a jeep in the dark and being greeted by Gerasimov, in military attire, with a handshake.
It also showed Putin chairing a meeting with high ranking army chiefs.
Ex-French leader says Ukraine has no place in Nato, compromise key to end war
Rostov-on-Don – a city in southern Russia close to Ukraine – has become an operational hub for Russian forces in Ukraine.
It was also the scene of a dramatic armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries in June, which saw them briefly take over the army HQ in Rostov, before halting their rebellion.
Gerasimov, who Wagner wanted to unseat, has been rarely seen in public since.
Putin rarely travels to areas near the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
As Putin met with his generals, a Russian strike on a central square in Ukraine’s northern city of Chernihiv on Saturday killed seven people and left 110 wounded, a local official said.
“As of 3:25pm, 117 people were injured in the terrorist attack on the centre of Chernihiv, seven of them died,” Oleksandr Lomako, Chernihiv’s acting mayor, said on Telegram.
The UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine condemned the strike as “heinous”, calling for Moscow to end strikes on “populated areas”.
“It is heinous to attack the main square of a large city, in the morning, while people are out walking, some going to church to celebrate a religious day for many Ukrainians,” Denise Brown, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said in an online statement.
“I condemn this repeated pattern of Russian strikes on populated areas of Ukraine, causing deaths, massive destruction and soaring humanitarian needs.”

Kyiv also said it had shot down over a dozen Russian drones in an overnight attack.
And the Russian army said it had thwarted a Ukrainian attack on Crimea.
Both sides in the conflict – which started in February 2022 – have reported regular drone incursions as Ukraine presses a counteroffensive to at reclaim Russian-held territory.
Kyiv’s air force said it had shot down 15 Russian drones.
Russian forces “attacked from the north with ‘Shahed-136/131’ attack UAVs. A total of 17 attack drones were launched from the Kursk region,” the air force said on Telegram.
It added that air defences were activated in “northern and central, as well as in the western regions”.


Moscow has ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure in the Black Sea and the Danube, since the scrapping of a deal that had allowed the safe export grain through the shipping hub.
The Russian army said it had repelled a Ukrainian attack on Crimea, a day after Russian forces destroyed Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow and its Black Sea Fleet.
“On the night of August 19, the Kyiv regime attempted a terrorist attack with an anti-aircraft missile of the S-200 air defence system turned into a strike version on the territory of Crimea,” the Russian army said in a statement.
The Black Sea peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, has regularly been targeted during Russia’s almost year-and-a-half long offensive.
During the counteroffensive, Kyiv has repeatedly said it aims to liberate territory lost to Moscow, including Crimea.
US to send F-16 jets to Ukraine from Denmark and Netherlands
Kyiv had on Friday welcomed a US decision to let Denmark and the Netherlands hand American F-16 fighter jets over to Ukraine once its pilots are fully trained.
Kyiv has been pushing for months to get advanced Western fighter aircraft to replace the heavy losses incurred by its air force, which flies mostly Russian planes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he was in Sweden on Saturday for talks with the prime minister, political parties and the royal family.
He said on social media that his meetings would focus on “partnership, defence cooperation, EU integration, and common Euro-Atlantic security”.


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Putin visits generals leading Ukraine offensive in south Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and top general Valery Gerasimov at the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday. Photo: RU-RTR Russian Television via AP

Fire engines and police cars near the site of a Russian missile strike in Chernihiv on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

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Ukraine has actively sought the US-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. File photo: US air force/AFP

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A Ukrainian soldier watches a Grad multiple launch rocket system firing shells with flyers near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on August 13. Photo: AP

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The Russian president met senior commanders, including Valery Gerasimov, at a military HQ in Rostov-on-Don
The southern city was also the scene of a dramatic armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries in June


The Russian president met senior commanders, including Valery Gerasimov, at a military HQ in Rostov-on-Don.


Ukraine

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Vladimir Putin

War and conflict