Ukraine’s President Volodymyr
Zelensky has visited troops in the Kharkiv region, on the country’s battered
eastern front line.
It was his first official trip
outside the Kyiv region since the Russian invasion began on 24 February.
He was pictured in a
bullet-proof vest surveying ruins in Kharkiv city.
Mr. Zelensky told soldiers,
“I want to thank each of you for your service.” Later, he sacked the
local security chief for “not defending” the city.
Russia has resumed shelling
Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second-largest city – in recent days after a fortnight of
comparative quiet.
The city – Ukraine’s
second-largest – faced intense bombardment in the war’s first months, with
images showing tower blocks flattened to rubble.
Russian troops were gradually
pushed back from its surrounding towns during April and May, prompting some who
had fled Kharkiv to return, and the metro to reopen for the first time since
the invasion.
But the city remains within
range of Russian artillery. Several loud explosions were heard in the city
after Mr. Zelensky’s visit.
President Zelensky’s office
posted a video on Telegram with the caption: “2,229 buildings have been
destroyed in Kharkiv and the region. We will restore, rebuild and bring back
life. In Kharkiv and all other towns and villages where evil came.”
The president also visited the
city of Kharkiv, which was bombarded day and night in the war’s early months
The footage featured Ukrainian
soldiers giving Mr. Zelensky a tour of the damage wrought by the war, including
broken-down military vehicles by the side of a road.
“In this war, the
occupiers are trying to squeeze out at least some result,” Mr. Zelensky
posted later.
“But they should have
understood long ago that we will defend our land to the last man. They have no
chance. We will fight and we will definitely win.”
The president said he had
fired Roman Dudin, the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine for the Kharkiv
region “for the fact that he did not work on the defense of the city from
the first days of the full-scale war, but thought only about himself”.
“On which motives? The
law enforcement officers will figure it out,” he added.
