President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky today visited the front in the Bakhmut zone, the hotbed of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, the press service of the Ukrainian head of state reports.

“Donetsk region. Forward positions of the Ukrainian military in the direction of Bakhmut,” Zelensky said in a Telegram message, posting a video of his visit.

In the video, the Ukrainian president stands under an aircraft hangar, without protective equipment, but accompanied by heavily armed bodyguards, and presents medals to servicemen, also armed.

“It is a great honor for me to be here today to honor the memory of our heroes, shake their hands and thank them for defending the sovereignty of our country,” Zelensky said.

“Your destination is so difficult, but so historic. Protect our land and return it to all of Ukraine, for our children,” he continued, before paying tribute to the soldiers who died “in the east and in general throughout the war.”

Bakhmut, a city of about 70,000 before the Russian invasion began in February 2022, was the scene of the longest fighting since the start of the war.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, whose men are on the front lines of this battle, said this week that his forces control about 70 percent of the city.

In recent weeks, Russian troops have advanced north and south of Bakhmut, cutting off many of Ukraine’s supply lines.

“You could say the city is almost surrounded,” Yan Gagin, a pro-Russian separatist official in eastern Ukraine, said today.

In another case, at least one person was killed and 25 injured today in a Russian strike on a residential building in Zaporozhye, southern Ukraine, the city’s mayor said.

“Unfortunately, the man, who was injured and was in serious condition, died. According to our information, 25 people are now hospitalized,” Anatoly Kurtiev wrote on Telegram.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of “shelling the city with barbarous brutality.”

Source: APE-MPE, AFP, Reuters.