Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the situation in Russian-held parts of Ukraine was “extremely difficult” while his Ukrainian counterpart drove home the message by visiting a frontline town that Russia has long tried and failed to capture, reports Hindustan Times.
Addressing Russia’s security services, Putin told operatives they needed to ‘significantly improve’ their work.
It followed a visit to close ally Belarus that fuelled fears, dismissed by the Kremlin, that the country could help Russia open a new invasion front against Ukraine.
Putin ordered the Federal Security Services (FSB) to step up surveillance of Russian society and the country’s borders to combat the “emergence of new threats” from abroad and traitors at home.
Some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks in Ukraine has taken place around the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said on Tuesday he had visited the city to meet military representatives and hand out awards to soldiers.
Earlier, he renewed calls for more weapons after Russian drones hit energy targets in a third air strike on power facilities in six days.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
