Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he had visited troops fending off Russian advances near the embattled city of Kupiansk that Moscow claimed to have captured last month, which Kyiv denies.
Ukraine said earlier its army had retaken two settlements in the northern Kharkiv region and pushed Russian troops back in Kupiansk — a strategically important city and a key railway hub.
“Many Russians talked about Kupiansk — we can see. I was here, I congratulated the guys. Thanks to every unit, to everyone fighting here, to everyone destroying the occupier,” Zelensky, wearing a bulletproof vest, said in a video posted on Telegram.
He did not disclose his exact location, but AFP geolocated Zelensky on a road at the entrance to the southwest of the city.
On Friday, the Khartia Battalion said the Ukrainian army had retaken two settlements north of the city.