Vladimir Putin Opens New Ferris Wheel As Russian Forces Receive Stunning Setback In Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a giant Ferris wheel in Moscow at a time when his military received stunning setback in Ukraine. According to a report in Russian news agency Tass, Mr Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin attended the ceremony via video conference where revolving observation wheel named Moscow Sun was inaugurated on Saturday. "It is a unique (construction), 140 meters high. There is nothing like that in Europe," Mr Putin was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency. "It is very important for people to have a chance to chill out with their family and friends."

The Tass report said that the Ferris wheel "is the tallest in Europe" and has 30 cabins with transparent floors in some of them. "The air conditioning, lighting and heating systems as well as an emergency button and audio system are installed in the cabins. "One complete rotation of the Moscow Sun takes about 18 minutes 40 seconds, with capacity of up to 450 passengers."

Further, fireworks lit up the sky over Red Square in Moscow to celebrate the city's founding in 1147.

This comes as Ukrainian forces made rapid advances in the Kharkiv province to regain control of the territory and forcing Russian military to abandon its main bastion.

"His soldiers are dying on the battlefield and he's opening a ferris wheel....total insanity, the guy is 3 sheets to the wind!" a supporter of Ukraine tweeted.

According to news agency Reuters, the swift fall of Izium - an important logistics hub - was Russia's worst military defeat since its troops were forced to move back from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in March.

Ukrainian Army Chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said in a post on Telegram channel on Sunday that his troops had taken back 1,158 square miles of territory since the start of the month, according to New York Post. He added that two-thirds of these gains have come since Thursday.

"In the Kharkiv direction, we began to advance not only to the south and east, but also to the north," the general said on Telegram, according to Post. "There are 50 km to go to the [Russian] border."

The retreat has caused Mr Putin's allies to urge him to make immediate changes to ensure ultimate victory in the Ukraine.

"If today or tomorrow changes are not made in the conduct of the special military operation, I will be forced to go to the country's leadership to explain to them the situation on the ground," Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said in a Telegram message, according to Reuters.

Moscow's almost total silence on the defeat - or any explanation for what had taken place in northeastern Ukraine - has also provoked significant anger among some pro-war commentators and Russian nationalists on social media.