Putin chairs assembly after wanting frail throughout talks in Belarus

Vladimir Putin today chaired a top meeting after he yesterday looked fraid and off-colour during talks in Belarus with the nation’s president and his ally Alexander Lukashenko to discuss the war in Ukraine.

The Russian president, 71, was pictured heading a meeting with defence industry leaders in Korolyov, near Moscow, today.

This comes amid rumours the ageing despot’s poor health, after he yesterday posed for cameras to shake hands with his counterpart in Minsk but appeared frail as he talked through developments in the conflict across the southern border.

At today’s meeting Putin commended defence CEOs for delivering weapons ‘on time, to the standard, and even ahead of schedule for a number of items,’ the Kremlin said. He said it was important to step up production of high-tech military equipment, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic warfare and counter-battery systems. 

The Russian tyrant was hosted by Lukashenko in the Belarusian capital on Friday, where Putin questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s legitimacy in power, discussed domestic nuclear drills and agreed on continued cooperation with Belarus.

But Putin appeared at a press conference after the meeting looking tired and rundown as Ukraine claimed minor successes in pushing back his shock advances in the Kharkiv region.

Much speculation has been made around the health of Putin, who was sworn in for his fifth term as president in March, some 24 years after he first took office.

Rumours about the Russian president’s declining health, mental state and unstable position have swirled since long before he ordered the invasion on February 24, 2022, but the war has appeared to take a toll on Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Footage from official meetings and appearances has shown Putin gripping a table for support, tapping his feet, and looking unsteady as he walked, with his appearance becoming more rounded and puffy over the years.

In December, Putin pulled out from a presidential trip to Pskov at the last minute due to ‘unfavourable flying conditions’ despite weather forecasts suggesting the skies were clear – prompting onlookers to raise questions about his health.

He then shelved a visit to Russia’s biggest tank plant in Nizhny Tagil and also cancelled his usual appearance at an end-of-year meeting of his ministers, before cancelling his traditional December press conference and end-of-year ice hockey game.

In October last year the Kremlin was pressed to deny rumours that Putin had suffered a cardiac arrest, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov judging the speculation ‘fake’.

‘These [kinds of stories] belong to the category of fake news, discussed with enviable tenacity by a number of media outlets. This brings nothing but a smile [in the Kremlin],’ he said at the time.

Peskov also brushed off allegations Putin was using ‘doubles’ to fill in for him at official events during bouts of illness. 

Days prior, the General SVR Telegram channel, which regularly alleges Putin is terminally ill with cancer, had claimed Putin had suffered a ‘cardiac arrest’.

Doctors performed resuscitation, having previously determined that the president was in cardiac arrest,’ reported the channel. ‘Help was provided on time, the heart was started and Putin regained consciousness.’

In a 2020 interview, before the 2022 invasion, Putin denied long-standing rumours that he uses body doubles, although he said he had been offered the chance to use one in the past for security reasons.

Putin appeared less spritely than usual while addressing reporters at a press conference in Minsk yesterday, too.

The Russian president discussed the war in Ukraine, possible avenues for peace and the use of nuclear drills at home.

He said that he was now willing to hold talks about settling the war in Ukraine – not for the first time – and took the opportunity to snipe at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy in power.

With Putin in Minsk, Russian sources told Reuters that the Russian President was indeed willing and ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines – or fight on if the West does not respond.

‘Of course, we are aware that the legitimacy of the current head of state has ended,’ said Mr Putin, who has repeatedly stated that Russia is ready for talks with Ukraine.

‘We must be completely sure that we are dealing with legitimate authorities.’

Putin claimed Zelenskyy’s presidential term was supposed to end on May 20, seizing the opportunity to undermine his adversary. 

Ukrainian legislation bans elections during martial law that has been in place since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. 

The country would have to amend the law to elections during a state of war.

Zelensky has also rejected the preconditions that Russia has put forth for talks, including allowing Russia to retain the territory Kremlin’s forces have taken since the February 2022 invasion.

The two-day visit to Belarus was one of several foreign tours Mr Putin used to kick off his fifth term in office. 

Russia and Belarus have increasingly close relations and foresee eventually forming a so-called ‘union state‘.

Speaking in Minsk, both Putin and Belarus shared intentions to tighten their cooperation in industry and technology in the face of Western sanctions against both their economies.

Putin also took the opportunity to discuss his nuclear drills, insisting that his latest drills this week were not an escalation by Russia.

Putin said the only difference this time is that the exercises also involve Belarus, where Russia announced last year that it was deploying tactical nuclear missiles.

Putin this month reopened Russia’s offensive in the Kharkiv region, making quick gains and stretching the offensive from north to south.

Contemporary reports claimed Putin’s forces were ‘simply walking‘ through Ukraine’s first line of defence in the region, swallowing up villages in a shock blitzkrieg offensive. 

The operation, launched on May 10, saw Russian artillery and airstrikes pound towns and villages in Kharkiv before Moscow’s troops surged across the border once again.

Zelensky blamed ‘the world’ for allowing the seizures to happen, stressing the need for military support.

As the US announced $275mn in new military aid for Ukraine yesterday, Ukraine claimed to have secured ‘combat control’ in northern parts of the region.

‘Our soldiers have now managed to take combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered,’ Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Zelenskiy’s comments, after holding a meeting of military and regional officials in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, appeared to be at variance with comments by Russian officials.

Viktor Vodolatskiy, a member of Russia’s State Duma lower house of parliament, was quoted by Tass news agency as saying Russian forces controlled more than half the territory of the town of Vovchansk, 5 km (three miles) inside the border.

Analysis by the Institute for the Study of War claimed yesterday Ukrainian forces had recently recaptured marginal territory north of Kharkiv City.

Geolocated footage published earlier this week showed that Ukrainian forces had pushed back southeast of Lukyantsi, the monitor reported.

There were no confirmed changes to the frontline around Vovchansk on May 23, despite assertions to the contrary from Russian milbloggers, it added.

One admitted that Russian forces were now ‘bogged down’ in street fighting with Ukrainian forces in spite of initial tactical successes.

Prominent milblogger Syrskyi said that Russia was now having to move reserves to the area from other regions.

Late last month, the United States finally passed a $95billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which included $61bn set aside for its allies in Kyiv and replenishing US stockpiles.

The overall amount provided to Ukraine for the purchase of weapons would be $13.8 billion, which will soon enable Kyiv’s defenders re-equip with sorely needed artillery, long-range missile systems and ammunition.

Ukraine would also receive more than $9 billion of economic assistance from the U.S. in the form of ‘forgivable loans.’

The bill was held in gridlock at the House of Representatives for months, preventing new aid from reaching Ukraine since December. 

Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to the House of Representatives for passing the colossal aid package, saying it could save thousands of lives.

Ukraine’s depleted air defences have allowed Russia much less friction in capturing hundreds of square kilometres of territory in recent months.