The Ukrainian presidency revealed that President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front line in the Donetsk region in the east of the country, where battles have been taking place with the Russian army for months, and pictures of Zelensky with military personnel were published.
And the presidency said in a video tweet yesterday (Monday): We have already started preparing for this and the coming weeks. We expect new meetings and negotiations, and to an even greater extent – visits to us, to our country. We will continue our aggressive foreign policy, various non-standard forms, the maximum beneficial interest of the world in Ukraine and our defense, calls for understanding of Ukraine.
Zelinsky retracted his recognition of the fall of the city of Bakhmut, stressing that his forces are still in the eastern city, and pointed out that the Russian forces are inside the city but do not control it. For his part, a senior Ukrainian military commander explained that his country’s forces control a small part of Bakhmut, but it is a foothold that will be sufficient to enter the destroyed city when the situation changes, as he put it.
General Oleksandr Sersky said in a post on Telegram: Kiev forces are advancing on the outskirts of Bakhmut and are on the verge of a tactical encirclement of the city. In turn, Deputy Defense Minister Hana Malyar confirmed that the Ukrainian forces partially surrounded Bakhmut.
And CNN reported that the Ukrainian commanders in charge of the forces on the ground did not know for months why Russia was willing to expend so much materiel and life trying to take control of a town of no tactical or strategic value.
