Zelenskyy visits soldiers at the front in Donetsk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he visited the front in the Donetsk region in the east of the country. He released a video on Monday showing him meeting with commanders and soldiers. Where exactly the recordings were made remains unclear. “We are visiting combat brigades defending Ukraine as part of the Donetsk operational and tactical group,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram online service.

He mentioned “troublesome issues,” securing supplies and “increasing the motivation of our fighters” as topics of discussion. Zelensky announced on Sunday the dismissal of Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, who took office just months before the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. Recently, however, the Defense Ministry led by Resnikov was rocked by corruption scandals.

Ukraine began its full-scale counteroffensive against Russian troops in June, but initially made slow progress in the east and south. Recently, however, it reported progress against Russian forces along the southern front.