The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, made a “working trip” to the regions of Zarporiyia (in the south of the country), Donetsk and Lugansk, (in the east)places heavily bombed by the Russians.
Zelensky seeks to show the “pride” he feels, he said, for the citizens who resist in these places. It is the first time the president has visited areas in eastern Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
In a short video speech posted on his website and broadcast by local agencies, The president explained that during his visit he found that there was “a lot of work” to do and that the day was “endless.”
“Good health to you, dear Ukrainians! Today is a night speech, so I will be brief, ”said Zelensky at the beginning of his speech, who daily addresses messages to Ukrainians.
“There was a lot of work. It was an endless day. I was in Zaporizhia, in the Zaporizhia region. I expressed my support for our military and rewarded the best. I heard the military reports”, added the president.
The Ukrainian president noted that he had a meeting with “the head of the regional state administration, the local police directorate, the Security Service and some mayors of the cities temporarily occupied by the Russians.”
Zaporizhia, in the south of Ukraine and close to the Crimean peninsula, which was occupied by the Russians in 2014, has suffered from the bombardment of the invading army since the beginning of the attacks on February 24 and has managed to control some populations in the region.
(Can read: kyiv suffers first Russian bombardments in more than a month).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky greets a soldier on a visit to the frontline in Donetsk on Thursday.
EFE. EPA. Presidency of Ukraine
During his trip, the president also met with residents of the city of Mariupol, who managed to get out of the city before it was fully taken over by the Russian army. Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov and located in the south of the eastern region of Donetsk, suffered a severe siege until its conquest, which has triggered a serious humanitarian crisis among the few remaining residents.
The Mariupol refugees visited by Zelensky are in the city of Khortytsia, in the center of the country, which he defined as “humane and warm. The conditions (in which I saw the refugees) are temporary, but not bad“, accurate.
(Also: Vladimir Putin launches propaganda to exalt his ‘lover’).
There, he said, he tried to answer the “difficult questions” that the citizens asked him. “I think we’ll figure it all out,” he added about it. “Each family has its own story. Most were without men. Someone’s husband went to war, someone’s is in captivity, someone’s, unfortunately, died. A tragedy. Homeless, loved ones. But we must live for the children. True heroes who are among us”, he stressed.
After his visit to Zaporizhia, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant now controlled by the Russians, he headed west to the city of Lysychansk in the Luhansk region, which is about to be taken over by the Russians.
“I am proud of everyone I met, shook hands with, communicated with, supported. We brought something to the military. I will not talk about it in detail. We also brought them confidence and strength. I wish you health,” he concluded.
The Russians have focused their offensive in recent weeks on the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, bordering Russia, where pro-Russian militias operate and are facilitating their offensive. Moscow tries to establish a corridor from these regions to the south of the countrywhich it already controls, in order to move its troops and material and block any exit from Ukraine to the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
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