Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday (September 14) promised ‘victory’ as he visited the strategic city of Izyum in Kharkiv region. Izyum was recently recaptured from Russia by Ukrainian forces in a counter-offensive. The counter-offensive is first clearly visible retreat of Russian forces since they invaded Ukraine on February 24. The retreat of Russian forces from swathes of the region in eastern Ukraine is seriously undermining Kremlin’s ambitions.
“Our blue-yellow flag is already flying in deoccupied Izyum. And it will be so in every Ukrainian city and village,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media.
“We are moving in only one direction — forward and towards victory.”
Photos distributed by the president’s office showed Zelensky flanked by guards as he clicked selfies with Ukrainian soldiers and thanked them at a flag-raising ceremony.
Ukraine has claimed sweeping successes in the northeastern Kharkiv region that borders Russia in recent days and also says it has clawed back territory along a southern front near the Kherson region on the Black Sea.
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On Wednesday, Zelensky said that Russia’s occupation of Crimea was a ‘tragedy’. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. Zelensky promised that Ukrainian forces would eventually recapture the Crimean peninsula.
Kyiv says that since the beginning of September its forces have retaken hundreds of villages, towns and cities that were captured by Russian forces that invaded Ukraine on February 24.
(With inputs from agencies)
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