Zelensky visits southern Ukraine with Danish prime minister Frederiksen
- The Ukrainian president met Danish PM Mette Frederiksen in city of Mykolayiv during a rare visit by a foreign leader to area close to front lines
- They visited a port and wounded soldiers in hospital; Danish defence ministry recently said Denmark would donate 19 artillery systems to help Ukraine fight Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the southern city of Mykolayiv on Monday during a rare visit by a foreign leader to a region close to the war front.
Video footage posted online by Zelensky’s office showed the president greeting Frederiksen with a handshake on a snowy street before entering a hospital where they met soldiers wounded in Russia’s invasion.
“It is important for our warriors to be able to undergo not only physical, but also psychological rehabilitation,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “I am grateful to all the medical workers who care about the health of our defenders. I wish them a speedy recovery.”
The two leaders also visited the Mykolaiv Commercial Sea Port, where they saw oil storage tanks hit by Russian enemy missiles and drones, and a heating point equipped with a water purification and distribution unit under a project implemented with Danish help.
Zelensky thanked Frederiksen for the help provided by Denmark, whose defence ministry said earlier this month that the country would donate 19 French-made Caesar howitzer artillery systems to Ukraine.
The president said he had also met local officials while in the Mykolaiv region, which has frequently been under attack by Russian forces since the invasion began 11 months ago.