Eastern Ukraine has been under heavy Russian fire for the past week, and Volodymyr Zelensky has warned in his daily videotaped speeches that the situation is difficult, especially in the Donbass.
On Sunday afternoon, the news suddenly came that he himself had visited Kharkiv, north of Donbass and also the hard-hit of the war.
– In this war, the occupiers are trying to squeeze out the slightest result. But they should have understood a long time ago that we will defend our country to the last man, says Zelenskyj in a video released on the messaging service Telegram.
– They do not have a chance, we will fight and definitely win.
The video shows the president showing destroyed houses and walking around the streets wearing a safety vest.
“2,229 buildings have been destroyed in Kharkiv and the entire region. We will rebuild and restore them and bring them back to life, in Kharkiv and all the other cities and villages where the evil came,” the statement said in the video.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a partially destroyed house in Kharkiv on Sunday.
As recently as Thursday, there were reports that the residents of Kharkiv were crouching under heavy Russian shelling. At least nine people were killed in an attack according to local authorities and thick smoke was seen in residential areas in the northern part of the city.
A large number of residents have sought refuge in the city’s metro since the beginning of the war, and have lived there since February.