Zelenskyy’s visit to Bakhmut thwarted Putin’s plan to present himself as a leader.

President Zelenskyy’s visit to the front-line city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on the 300th day of the war has undermined the Russian president as a leader involved in the war, according to the ISW. Putin’s decision to reward members of his entourage who did not even take direct part in the fighting, unlike Zelenskyy’s visit to Bakhmut near the front line, drew some criticism from Russian nationalists, the report said. At the same time, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian private Wagner military company, released a series of videos claiming that he arrived at the front line near Bakhmut to allegedly talk to Zelenskyy about control of the territories in the area. Prigozhin’s  appearance on the front lines further weakens Putin’s crated image as a wartime leader, as Putin has not even visited Russian-occupied territories, let alone come close to the front lines.