PUTIN MEETS TOP MILITARY BRASS
“There was smoke, screams, people were running, crying, moaning. We ran to the shelter when everything happened and sat there,” Iryna, a 24-year-old bartender in Chernihiv, told AFP.
“I’m still a little in shock, because this hasn’t happened in a long time, everyone has relaxed a little. But now we will probably be going down to the shelter.”
Until the war is over, “we have no options. Either accept or go abroad”, added Viktoriya, 40, who manages a coffee shop.
Hours earlier, the Kremlin said that Putin had travelled to the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Moscow’s hub for its operations in Ukraine, to meet his top generals in a rare trip close to combat zones.
Moscow gave no details of when the meeting took place, but footage released by state media indicated that it was at night.
Putin “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 Kremlin said.
A video published by the RIA Novosti news agency showed Putin, wearing a suit, stepping out of a jeep in the dark and being greeted with a handshake by Gerasimov, in military attire.
Gerasimov is seen leading Putin down a corridor decorated with portraits of Russian military men and of the president chairing a meeting with army chiefs.
Rostov-on-Don was also the scene of a dramatic armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries in June, which saw them briefly take over the army headquarters in Rostov, before halting their rebellion.
Gerasimov, who Wagner wanted to unseat, has rarely been seen in public since.
Source: CNA
