Vladimir Putin, after his visit to Kazakhstan on November 9, visited the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, the Kremlin press service reported.

"Vladimir Putin, having completed his official visit to Kazakhstan, flew to Rostov-on-Don, where he visited the headquarters of the Southern Military District," the statement said.

At the headquarters, the head of state was accompanied by Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, as well as other military commanders, including Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Sergei Rudskoy.

"The Supreme Commander-in-Chief was introduced to new models of military equipment. The head of state heard reports on the progress of the special military operation," the Kremlin also said.

Putin regularly visits the headquarters of groups of troops involved in the tasks of the special military operation.

The last time Putin visited the headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces in Rostov-on-Don was on October 20, returning from Perm, where the head of state spoke at the plenary session of the international sports forum "Russia - Country of Sports" and held several meetings.

According to the Kremlin press service, during this visit to the headquarters, the head of state also heard the report of the head of the General Staff Gerasimov. The military commander told the president that the joint group of troops is solving its tasks in accordance with the plan of the special military operation.

In addition, the head of state had other conversations with representatives of the top leadership of the Ministry of Defense.

As the press secretary of the president Dmitry Peskov clarified, this was a promptly coordinated trip, which was not planned in advance.

The President also visited the headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces in Rostov-on-Don in October and August. The head of state listened to the reports of the Chief of the General Staff, commanders of the directions and other senior officers of the group.

Another trip by Putin to Rostov-on-Don took place in March 2023. During this visit, the head of state held a meeting and listened to reports by Gerasimov and a number of other military leaders. In addition, Putin also held a separate meeting with the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Putin, during a meeting with members of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation in early November, spoke about the situation that led to the start of the special operation. Answering a question about the start of the NWO, the president stressed that Russia had no other choice.

"Because before you decide to uncover the machine, you need to think about whether you can do without it. No, unfortunately, that could not be done. Why? Because we've already been attacked," he said.

The head of state also noted that "our people" lived on the territory of the new Russian regions.

"These are our new, but old territories, our historical territories, people lived there, in these territories, ours. All subsequent events have shown – and our colleagues have just said this publicly – that they considered themselves part of Russia initially, but they were attacked in 2014," Putin said.

The President continued, noting that first an attempt was made to attack Crimea, and later to Donbas. Russia, on the other hand, has been working for eight years to resolve this situation by peaceful means. However, Kiev abandoned this approach, Putin noted.

"We won't, they said, we don't like the Minsk agreements. And what are we going to do – will we continue to hammer non-stop? Action had to be taken at some point to put an end to this. This is what we are striving for. This is what is dictated," the president summed up.