Putin is asking his leaders how the Russian campaign in Ukraine should develop

The Kremlin said on Saturday that President Vladimir Putin had asked the commanders of his armed forces for proposals on how they believed Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine should unfold during a visit to the operation’s headquarters.

In a video released by the Kremlin, Putin presided over a meeting of about a dozen people around a circular table, flanked by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

Then Putin appeared at the head of another conference table at Joint Task Force headquarters, where he asked a number of military leaders for suggestions.

“We will listen to the commanders in all operational areas, and I would like to hear your proposals for our immediate and medium-term actions,” Putin said.

General Sergei Surovkin, the commander-in-chief of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, was also shown attending the meetings in still photos on the Kremlin’s website.

His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the Interfax news agency that Putin spent all Friday at the headquarters of the task force.

No other details of Putin’s visit or the location of the headquarters were reported.

Return of the water to Kyiv

Meanwhile, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital said Saturday morning that the city’s metro network was back in service and all residents were reconnected to the water supply a day after the latest wave of airstrikes.

Ukrainian officials said Russia fired more than 70 missiles on Friday in one of its biggest attacks since invading the Kremlin on February 24, causing emergency power outages across the country.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said heating had been restored to half of the city and electricity to two-thirds.

But emergency lockdown schedules are in place, he wrote on messaging app Telegram. Because the electricity deficit is enormous. »

Klitschko had warned of a “doomsday” scenario for the Ukrainian capital earlier this month if Russian airstrikes on infrastructure continued, but also said there was no need to evacuate people yet.

“We are fighting and doing everything we can to ensure that this does not happen,” he told Reuters on December 7.

The boy’s body was found under the rubble

The governor of the Ukrainian region said today, Saturday, that rescuers have pulled the body of a one-year-old child from the rubble of a Russian raid on an apartment building in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine.

“It’s hard to write about something like this,” Valentin Reznichenko said on the messaging app Telegram of Friday morning’s attack, which he said killed four people in all.

Reuters could not independently verify the officials’ statements.