Child embarasses Putin on live TV

From the Dialog, Nov 4, 2025:

"Putin embarrassed himself live on air: a child bluntly asked him an awkward question about Ukraine

During a protocol event in central Moscow, Putin experienced an awkward moment that dealt a heavy blow to Russian propaganda and to Putin personally. A girl named Kira, invited to the ceremony as "the child of a special operation hero," publicly complained that her uncle, wounded at the front, was being sent back to the war zone without treatment.  

After the official ceremony, several children were brought up to Putin. Suddenly, the girl broke the carefully planned scenario and said something no one expected to hear on live television.  

"My uncle is at the front right now. He was wounded in the arm. He was in the hospital, but they're not treating him. Now they're sending him on a mission. I'd like him to be transferred to a good hospital in Russia," the child said.

The Kremlin's PR people, who carefully control the flow of "inconvenient information" to the media and Putin, especially in front of cameras, failed to take into account that a child is capable of asking a direct and pointed question.

Putin's face registered confusion. He looked flustered and blurted out a clumsy, "We'll find him, okay? We definitely will. Thank you for remembering him, good job." But at that moment, millions of Russians literally saw live on television: Russian soldiers were being crippled not only by war, but also by their own state..."

This news had an update the next day, Nov 5:

"The girl who asked Putin an awkward question about Ukraine lost her father in the war, according to media reports

Eleven-year-old Kira Pimenova, who asked Putin to return her wounded uncle to the hospital, had already lost her father in the war in Ukraine. The family's tragedy caused by the war unleashed by Putin turned out to be much more widespread than previously thought...

An Agency investigation revealed that Kira's father, Vladimir Pimenov, was mobilized in September 2022 and died in the spring of 2024 near Horlivka. Before the war, he worked for the Federal Penitentiary Service and oil companies. He was 36 years old.  

The girl lives in Novosibirsk with her mother and younger sister. Her uncle, Anton Fisyura, whom she asked for help, was a cook and cafe manager before the war. Now he has been sent back to the front, despite being wounded..."