Putin visits military headquarters to get briefing on 'operation' in Ukraine

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of the Russian armed forces in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

The president met with the military chiefs at the headquarters, where Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov briefed him on the status of the "special military operation" in Ukraine, Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Peskov said he cannot reveal the specifics of Putin's conversations with military commanders for security reasons.

Russia launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine in February last year to "de-nazify" and "demilitarize" Ukraine, and protect the Russian-speaking population of the neighboring country. The West, however, calls it "a war of aggression."

Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative center of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia and located on the Don River, 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the Sea of Azov, where Russia shares a border with Ukraine.