The visit comes as Russian forces captured two front-line villages in the east of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has applauded troops for their performance against the Russian offensive, in what he calls one of his most important visits in the war.
“It is extremely challenging in the Donetsk directions, and it is in the Pokrovsk direction that there have been the biggest number of Russian assaults these weeks,” he said while visiting the front line in the Donetsk region.
On his visit to the command post, Zelenskyy presented Special Forces soldiers with state awards and congratulated them for their courage.
He thanked the troops for their heroic operations both behind enemy lines and in the defence and de-occupation of Ukraine’s territories.
Russian forces have overrun two front-line villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian army sergeant said Monday, after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defences there.
“They pressed non-stop” to capture Vovche and Prohres, the chief sergeant of Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Oleh Chaus, told Radio Svaboda.
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed in recent days that it had taken control of the villages, however Ukrainian General Staff has not yet made any official comment.
The villages lie about 30 kilometres northwest of Avdiivka, a Donetsk city that the Russian army seized in February after a long battle. The victory was the Kremlin’s last major triumph in the war that is now in its third year.
Russia’s onslaught — fuelled by its heavy advantage in soldiers and weaponry — has repeatedly forced Ukraine to pull back from defensive positions to avoid being captured or killed.
Oleksandr Shyrshyn, the 47th brigade’s deputy battalion commander, confirmed to local media that the villages had been taken blaming poor training of troops, lack of motivation and inadequate weapons for the setbacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late Sunday described the situation in the Donetsk region as “extremely challenging”.
Russia’s strategy of attritional warfare, with powerful glide bombs smashing Ukrainian defences before infantry move in, has brought incremental gains for the Kremlin as it seeks another big breakthrough.
Ukraine is significantly outgunned by Russia’s bigger army on the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line.
