KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky made a rare and challenging trip near the frontline on Wednesday, personally thanking the soldiers who fought in the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, which has become a powerful city. symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
The trip to the Bakhmut area came on a day when aerial and seaborne drones attacked the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula and a Russian missile penetrated a nine-story apartment complex in Zaporizhzhia, to the south, killing at least one person. killed and injured more than 30 others.
At least seven other people were killed, including an ambulance driver, and nine others injured when a drone strike hit a university in Rzhyshchiv, about 80 kilometers southeast of the capital Kyiv, military officials said Wednesday. The top floors of two dormitories and another building were destroyed, according to the Ukrainian emergency service.
Mr. Zelensky’s visit came as he and Russian President, Vladimir V. Putin, cemented alliances and secured aid for the battle ahead when both sides are expected to mount offensives. China will continue to serve as a counterweight to Western sanctions against Russia, and Ukraine’s allies promised more and faster aid, including a $15.6 billion loan of the International Monetary Fund.
Mr Zelensky condemned the Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia and said Mr Putin’s forces had once again targeted civilians, a tactic that has led to accusations of war crimes against Moscow.
“Right now, shooting is being done on residential areas where ordinary people and children live,” says Zelensky wrote on Twitter, featuring a video of a large explosion ripping into a high-rise apartment building. “This should not be ‘just another day’ in Ukraine or anywhere in the world.”
Later, in his nightly speech, the Ukrainian leader promised retaliation, saying, “All Russian attacks will face a military, political and legal response.” He also said he visited Kharkiv, north of Bakhmut, on Wednesday to discuss reconstruction, restore electricity and clear landmines.
“Kharkiv gives strength to our whole east,” he said.
In Crimea, Russian-appointed governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said after that attack that three drones had been destroyed and Russian ships were undamaged. It was the second consecutive day that drones have allegedly attacked the peninsula. It was not clear who was behind the drones. Ukraine rarely takes responsibility for attacks on territory claimed by Russia.
Mr. Zelensky, that last one Bakhmut visited publicly said in December that he and his generals are determined to hold the city in Ukraine’s Donbas region, despite Russia’s attempts to encircle it. He argues that the months-long battle exhausts Moscow’s troops and resources.
During this journey he shook hands with soldiers and thanked them for their bravery.
“Thank you for protecting the state, sovereignty, eastern Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said, according to a statement from his office that included images of him posing for selfies with troops. It did not give his exact location, but an image posted on Twitter by OKKO, a Ukrainian gas station chain, showed Mr Zelensky with staff members at a branch in Kostyantynivka, about 24 kilometers from Bakhmut.
In his nightly speech, he said it was “disturbing” to see the “suffering and destruction” in the eastern Donbas region.
“Wherever the Russian evil has come, it is clear that the terrorist state cannot be stopped by anything but one thing: our victory,” he said. “And we will make sure – the Ukrainian victory.”
The battle for Bakhmut, which began in the summer, has become one of Russia’s longest-running attacks since the full-scale invasion more than a year ago. The fighting has intensified in recent months, with Moscow throwing thousands of men from its forces and the Wagner private military company in a grinding and often fighting block by block which caused heavy casualties on both sides.
The battle has also consumed a lot Kiev ammunition supplyleading some Western and Ukrainian officials to warn that holding Bakhmut, whose strategic significance is under debate, could weaken Kiev ahead of the expected spring offensive.
Mr. Zelensky’s visit came days later Mr Putin visited the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, now occupied by Russian troops after one of Moscow’s most brutal war campaigns.
The journey to Mariupol, about 80 kilometers southeast of the Ukrainian-controlled city of Vuhledar, where Russian troops suffered heavy losses just weeks ago and where the fighting continues, Mr. Putin is believed to have come closest to the frontline since the Russian invasion.
After more than a year of fighting, much of Ukraine is in ruins, and the IMF and Ukraine have reached a tentative agreement on the loan to help the country close staggering budget deficits and recover from widespread damage to its infrastructure.
The United States and European countries pushed for the package, and the fund’s board is expected to review the four-year program in the coming weeks, according to a statement released Tuesday.
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Marc Santora reported from Kiev, Ukraine; Valerie Hopkins from Berlin; And Victoria Kim from Seoul.