JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited two cities in the north and a border guard ditch near the border with Russia on Tuesday, his final destination of a series of blusukans to the front lines.
Video footage posted by President Zelensky's office shows he was in Sumy, the sixth region he visited in the past week with increased expectations of a Ukrainian counter-attack.
President Zelensky walked with border guard commanders through a deep ditch in an undisclosed forest in Sumy, while Ukrainian troops with complete weapons secured a perimeter around him.
He also visited the cities of Okhtyrka and Trostianets, where residents managed to expel Russian troops occupying parts of Sumy for about a month at the start of the February Russian invasion last year.
Several buildings in both cities were badly damaged in the fighting, and Ukrainian officials said that areas close to the border were still regularly bombarded by Russian artillery and airstrikes.
"These days, these weeks, we celebrate the anniversary of the release of our cities and settlements in the northern region," President Zelensky told a small crowd of soldiers and civilians at a train station in Trostianets before distributing award medals.
In a separate post on the Telegram app, President Zelensky wrote, "Our people prove that this colonialist will be defeated by us, by our morals, by our Ukrainian character. Our people prove it, our fighters prove it."
The Russian invasion has been trapped for months in fierce fighting along the front lines in the eastern region. The Ukrainian Army commander said last week Ukraine's retaliatory attacks could come "soon".
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