Ukraine’s President Zelensky visits close to war front line near Sievierodonetsk
- President’s trips that were publicly revealed on Sunday were rare outings outside the capital Kyiv
- Zelensky visited near Sievierodonetsk, where one of the war’s biggest ground battles is taking place
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had travelled to Lysychansk and Soledar, two cities very close to some of the most intense fighting between his country’s troops and Russian forces.
The beleaguered city of Lysychansk is just a few kilometres south from Sievierodonetsk, where one of the war’s biggest ground battles is taking place and which Ukraine claims to be regaining more control of.
“I went with the head of (my) office to the east. We were in Lysychansk and Soledar,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Sunday, adding he would not elaborate on the visit.
In two separate videos released later, Zelensky, dressed in his trademark khaki T-shirt, is shown talking to troops in confined, bunker-like structures, presenting some with awards and addressing others.
“What you all deserve is victory – that is the most important thing. But not at any cost,” Zelensky said in one of the videos.
The trips that were publicly revealed on Sunday were rare outings by Zelensky outside the capital Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 and could be the closest to the front line yet.
Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk are in the Luhansk region and Soledar is in the Donetsk region. Both regions make up the broader Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, which Russia claims is on a mission to “liberate”.
Ukraine says it is fighting for its very survival against a Russian imperial-style land grab. Observers say that achieving goals in the east is necessary for Russian President Vladimir Putin to claim the military operation a success.
Earlier on Sunday, Zelensky said he had visited frontline troops in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, whose governor claims that 60 per cent of the region is under Russian occupation.
During his visit, Zelensky awarded medals to Ukrainian soldiers, saying: “I want to thank everyone for the great cause, for your service, for defending all of us, our state”.
Zelensky’s office later said the president also visited a medical facility in the region and spoke with people forced to leave their homes, including from Mariupol, which is now in Russian hands after being under siege for weeks.
He promised action to ensure that all displaced people would be properly rehoused.
“We will truly help you tackle this issue,” the president’s office quoted him as saying.
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100 days of war: What has happened in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion?
Zelensky’s trip to the battlefield gave him an important first-hand view of military operations and was a morale booster for his frontline troops, former Australian army general Mick Ryan said.
It also demonstrated “he has total trust in his army” and served to heighten the contrast between his leadership style and that of Putin.
“An important characteristic demonstrated by Zelensky is his willingness to take personal risk to visit soldiers in the field, and get his own sense of how military operations are unfolding,” Ryan tweeted on Monday.
“This is an important way that Zelensky differentiates himself from his adversary.
“I am pretty sure that Putin will not be accepting invitations to visit the poorly fed and led – but well armed – Russian troops in Ukraine at any point in the near future.”
Zelensky previously visited front lines at the end of May, while there is no indication Putin has been anywhere near the battlefield since he launched his invasion.
Ukraine has been fighting the Russian invasion for over 100 days. During that time the United Nations has recorded over 4,100 civilian deaths, but has stressed that the true death toll is almost certainly much higher.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse
