Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown signs of frustration with events in Ukraine as he gives one of his Kremlin colleagues a public telling-off. The despot accused his deputy prime minister, Denis Manturov, of failing to procure military and civilian planes to help with Russia’s war effort.
In footage from the Kremlin video conference, Putin said: “There are no contracts. What are you going to tell me? I know there are no contracts at the companies, the directors told me.
“Why are you really fooling around?”
He added: “This all must be done within a month, I am asking you, within a month… Don’t we understand in what conditions we’re living?”
Manturov bowed his head as he came under immense pressure from the Russian President.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has remained bullish, saying that the “terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend” that they are making progress in the region.
If Russia can take Soledar, it could help them claim another key city – Bakhmut. Soledar is known for its deep salt mines which hold extensive tunnels and could be useful for attacking other Ukrainian-held areas.
The BBC’s James Waterhouse in Ukraine also explained how taking Soledar could hep Putin’s propaganda drive in Russia.
He said: “The reason they are throwing everything at it is that there is a big propaganda win here… a vital trophy for President Vladimir Putin to present to critics back in Russia”.
Putin has had the help of Yevgeny Prigozhin and his private mercenaries – the Wagner Group – in Soledar and Bakhmut.
Priogzhin even claimed to have driven Ukraine out of Soledar, although the Russian government has been more tentative in declaring this.
