“I would like to emphasize that we can feel that the population of the liberated areas is supporting us. They realize that we are defending their right to a peaceful life and their children’s happiness,” the director, Viktor Zolotov, told Putin, according to the Kremlin.

In a video of the exchange, Putin looks visibly troubled and concerned, gripping the table, while Zolotov shares his thoughts…

“National Guard troops are accomplishing a wide range of objectives to maintain law, order and security, and to resume peaceful life in the liberated territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, as well as in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions,” Zolotov continued.