Zelensky visits Ukraine troops fighting Russians near ‘most difficult’ front line
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited troops in the eastern Donetsk region, which Russia claims as its own after a disputed referendum.
The area, particularly around the town of Bakhmut, is now the main focus of intense fighting after Ukraine’s forces retook Kherson in November.
Russia and its proxies have controlled parts of Donetsk since 2014.
On Tuesday night, new Russian strikes were reported in the central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
Regional head Valentyn Reznichenko said one individual was injured after an industrial facility was attacked in Kryvyi.
This comes after Monday’s massive Russian missile strikes that again targeted critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
BBC reports that Ukraine is now seeing snow and sub-zero temperatures in many regions, and millions are without electricity and running water, raising fears people may die of hypothermia.
Speaking on the Day of the Armed Forces on Tuesday, Mr Zelensky called the fighting around Bakhmut the “most difficult area that protects not only the east, but our entire state”.
But he said he believed Ukraine would take back all the land occupied by Russia, including Crimea , which is Ukraine’s southern peninsula annexed by Russia eight years ago.
