Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose trips outside the capital kyiv have been rare since the start of the Russian invasion, visited on Saturday, for the first time, the regions of Mykolaiv and Odessa, located in southern Ukraine and bathed by the Black Sea.
A video, released by the Ukrainian presidency, shows him inspecting the badly damaged regional administration building and holding a meeting with regional officials in Mykolaiv.
President Zelensky visiting #Mykolaiv.#StandWithUkraine #ArmUkraineNow pic.twitter.com/rubbMD7kiJ
– olexander scherba🇺🇦 (@olex_scherba) June 18, 2022
This port and industrial city of almost half a million inhabitants before the war is still under Ukrainian control, but it is close to the Kherson region, almost entirely occupied by the Russians. It remains a target of Moscow because it is on the road to Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port, 130 km to the southwest.
The visit comes a day after a Russian strike killed two people and injured 20 in the city.
“It is important that you are alive”
In the video, the local governor, Vitaliy Kim, shows the Ukrainian president the gaping facade of the headquarters of the regional administration, hit in March by a Russian strike that left 37 dead.
Volodymyr Zelensky then went to the Ukrainian positions in this region as well as in the neighboring region of Odessa, according to his press service.
“I want to thank you on behalf of the Ukrainian people, on behalf of our state, for your great work, for your heroic service,” he told the military in the Odessa region. “It is important that you are alive. As long as you are alive, there is a strong Ukrainian wall protecting our country,” he continued.
Rewards for bravery
The president also attended a meeting with local officials in Mykolaiv in what looked like an underground basement, where he handed out awards for bravery.
“Special attention was paid to land and sea threats. We never stop working for victory,” the presidency said in a statement.