KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited troops in the eastern frontline Donetsk region with his top military leadership on Wednesday.
Zelenskiy recorded a video address against the backdrop of a city sign of Pokrovsk, along part of the front that has seen some of the most intense fighting during the 28-month-long full-scale attack.
Zelenskiy presented the new joint forces commander on Wednesday to troops defending the eastern frontline region of Donetsk.
He announced on Monday he was appointing Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov to the post, which involves strategic planning of operations, replacing Lieutenant-General Yuri Sodol who had faced criticism over serious military setbacks.
Hnatov's main tasks include "preserving as many fighters' lives as possible" while repelling the Russian forces, Zelenskiy said in a video address posted on social media.
One of his meetings during the trip addressed security and support for the people of the Donetsk region, including water provision, social issues and evacuation, Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.
In the video, he expressed surprise that some relevant government officials had not visited the region in six months or more.
"There will be a separate conversation in Kyiv, particularly with officials who must be here and in other areas near the frontline - in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions," Zelenskiy said. "Solutions that simply cannot be seen from Kyiv."
Zelenskiy and his army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also listened to reports from frontline positions.
Ukraine's military has found itself on the back foot this spring as Russian forces opened a new front in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in May and continued to press Ukrainian forces in other directions.
Russia and Ukraine each handed back 90 prisoners of war on Tuesday in the latest of several periodic swaps in their 28-month-old conflict, with the United Arab Emirates overseeing the exchange as an intermediary.
The last exchange took place on May 31, when each side handed over 75 prisoners of war, also with the UAE acting as a go-between. That was the first exchange in nearly four months.
Russia said prisoners brought home on Tuesday had faced mortal danger in captivity.
Ukraine said returnees had included soldiers who had defended the Azovstal steel mill in a three-month siege in 2022 and others taken prisoner when Russian forces briefly seized the defunct Chornobyl nuclear power station. The UAE said its action as a go-between had been made possible by maintaining good contacts with both sides. — Reuters
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