On the 300th day of war, Putin and Zelensky mark their permanent challenge

The presidents of Ukraine and Russia presented their medals on Tuesday:

President Volodymyr Zelensky went to the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut to reconnoitre Ukrainian soldiers as artillery thundered in the distance, as president Vladimir Putin honored Russian occupation figures and propaganda leaders within the safe and gilded halls of the Kremlin.

It was a split-screen moment that captured the intractability of a war that began 300 days ago and offered a stark contrast in wartime leadership, with Zelenskyy displaying a fresh challenge and Putin signaling he was relentless in his assault .

As Russian forces entrench themselves on much of the 970-kilometer front after a string of battlefield defeats, Moscow has stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure with a wave after wave of rocket attacks and drones intended to plunge the nation into darkness.

On the battlefield, repeated Russian assaults on Bakhmut, a city once home to 70,000 people in the eastern Donbass region, have been relentless and catastrophicconjuring up images of the wastelands left by the bloodiest battles of the First World War.

Zelensky has begun what may be his most perilous journey to the front since fighting began early this morning in February, more than 450 miles from the capital.

Dressed in a simple military green jacket, he presented medals to soldiers in combat uniform and posed for photos with soldiers hailing their valor “superhuman”.

“The east is resisting because Bakhmut is fighting,” he told the troops, adding:

“In fierce battles and at the cost of many lives, the freedom of all of us is defended here.”

Putin’s parallel awards ceremony featured more pomp and circumstance and less risk.

It came hours after Putin released a video message to employees of Russian security agencies warning that the situation in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine was “extremely difficult”.

And it seemed aimed at showing Ukraine and its Western allies that Putin was determined to continue his fight, despite what US officials say Russian casualties are now overcoming 100,000 dead and wounded.

Among those honored in the Kremlin on Tuesday at a televised event were some of Russia’s top pro-war figures.

Among them were the Russian leaders of the four Ukrainian regions that Putin illegally annexed in September, despite much of the area remaining under Ukrainian control.

Also there was Semyon Pegov, an educated Russian war blogger wounded in Ukraine.

Y Daisy Simonyanthe uncompromising editor of one of the Kremlin’s most important propaganda outlets, the RT television network.

“Thank you for snatching our people from the bloody mouths of these man-eaters, despite the pain and blood,” Simonyan said at the ceremony, in an apparent reference to the Kremlin’s false claim that Ukraine perpetrated genocide against the Russians.

“And we will help you defeat these man-eaters as much as you ask.”

It was a reminder that Russia’s powerful propaganda apparatus, like Putin himself, is increasingly acknowledging Russia’s struggles on the front lines, while continuing to conceal the scale of the military’s losses.

At the same time, it presents war as existential – stating that the real enemy is a NATO aiming at the destruction of Russia – and trying to prepare the Russians for new sacrifices.

Putin, in a short speech at the end of the ceremony, said these were “unusual and difficult times” and hailed Russian soldiers as “heroes”.

“When a country or even every person develops, moves forward, it always overcomes some difficulties on this path,” Putin said.

“But today, in fact, it is accompanied by particular challenges”.

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