Ukraine President Zelensky meets soldiers near front line
On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky met soldiers near Bakhmut in a photo released by the Ukrainian government.
The Ukrainian leader condemned a deadly Russian missile attack against an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia.
On Wednesday, KYIV, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky made a rare and defiant trip near the front line, personally thanking soldiers who have been fighting in the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, which has become a powerful symbol of Ukrainian resistance. The trip to Bakhmut area came on a day when air and seaborne drones attacked the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula and a Russian missile ripped into a nine-story apartment complex in Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one person and injuring more than 30 others. At least seven people were killed, including an ambulance driver and nine others wounded when a drone strike hit a college in Rzhyshchiv, about 50 miles southeast of the capital, military officials said on Wednesday. According to Ukraine's state emergency service, the top floors of two dormitory buildings and another building were destroyed. Mr. Zelensky visited Russia's president Vladimir V. Putin as he and Russia solidified alliances and secured help for the fight ahead when both sides are expected to mount offensives. China will continue to serve as a counterweight to Western sanctions imposed on Russia, and Ukraine s allies promised more and faster help, including a $15.6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
In Crimea, the Russia-appointed governor, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said after that attack that three drones had been destroyed and Russian ships were undamaged. It was the second day in a row that drones were reported to have targeted the peninsula. It was not clear who was behind the drones. Ukraine rarely takes responsibility for attacks in territory claimed by Russia.
The last time he visited Bakhmut publicly in December, he said that despite Russia's efforts to encircle it, he and his generals are determined to hold onto the city in Ukraine's Donbas region. He argues that the monthslong fight is wearing down Moscow's forces and resources. He thanked soldiers for their bravery and shook them hands on this trip. Zelensky said he posed for selfies with troops and that he was responsible for protecting the state, sovereignty, and the east of Ukraine. It did not give his exact location, but an image posted on OKKO, a Ukrainian gas station chain, showed Mr. Zelensky with staff at a branch in Kostyantynivka, about 15 miles from Bakhmut. He said it was distressing to see the suffering and ruin in the eastern Donbas region. Wherever Russian evil has come, it is obvious that the terrorist state cannot be stopped by any other than one thing - our victory, he said. We will make sure it is the Ukrainian victory. The battle for Bakhmut began in the summer, and has become one of Russia's longest-running assaults since its full-scale invasion more than a year ago. The fighting has intensified in recent months, with Moscow throwing thousands of men from its armed forces and the private military company of Wagner into a grinding and often block-by-block battle that has resulted in heavy casualties for both sides.