Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited an army command post near the embattled small town of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region close to the Russian border.
“This section is probably one of the most difficult,” Zelensky stressed in a video published on Telegram. He awarded medals to soldiers on the occasion of Special Forces Day.
In May, Russian troops crossed the border near Vovchansk in the east of the country. Since then, heavy fighting has been raging around the town, which is around 4 kilometres from the border.
Zelensky also visited the small town of Derhachi, just a few kilometres north of Kharkiv, where he was shown 18 rebuilt houses and newly constructed shelters.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the small town has come under fire several times.
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Donetsk region, the Russian military reported the capture of the village of Vovche.
Ukrainian media had already reported the loss of the settlement and the neighbouring village of Prohres several days ago, citing a battalion commander of the 47th Brigade.
However, the Ukrainian army has not yet officially confirmed the withdrawal.
Including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, Moscow controls around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory. (dpa/NAN
