Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the «front line positions» of the Ukrainian military and met with soldiers during a trip to the Kharkiv region, his office announced on Sunday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the «front line positions» of the Ukrainian military and met with soldiers during a trip to the Kharkiv region, his office announced on Sunday. During the visit, Zelensky got an operational update on the situation there, and visited destroyed administrative and residential buildings in the city. He also chaired a meeting with regional officials, including military leaders and the Kharkiv mayor. The head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleg Synegubov, said that 31% of the region’s territory is currently occupied, and 5% has been «liberated» back into Ukrainian hands.
«We are not yet able to fully inspect some of the liberated settlements, conduct full-fledged demining and begin rebuilding critical infrastructure, as shelling continues. Where we can do it remotely, we do it», Synegubov said. Synegubov added that 2,229 high-rise buildings have been damaged in Kharkiv, including 225 which were completely destroyed. In the northern and eastern districts of Kharkiv, 30.2% of the total housing stock has been damaged or destroyed. Zelensky discussed plans for reconstructing the city, by building modern housing equipped with bomb shelters.
«We have to find funds, credit lines. The state must ensure this in terms of guarantees, and the leaders of cities and regions must find great projects and money», Zelensky said. Around 400 vehicles carrying evacuees from southern Ukraine have been held at a Russian checkpoint in Vasylivka for the past two or three days, Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne reported Sunday. The cars are carrying many families with children and small babies, according to the broadcaster. The vehicles came mostly from the cities of Kherson, Mariupol, and Berdiansk. Vasylivka is the biggest Russian-controlled checkpoint that evacuees must pass to Ukrainian-controlled territory. It is located in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Oleksandr Staruh, the head of the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region military administration, said Russian forces «periodically close» the crossing, leaving families trapped there, «waiting in horrible conditions.»
Berdiansk had seen an influx of residents from Mariupol, the Ukrainian port city subject to months of intense bombardment before falling to Russian forces. Now, however, many families are trying to head further west because conditions in Berdiansk «have deteriorated», Staruh said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that talks last week with Sweden and Finland regarding their NATO membership did not happen «at the desired level.»
«Unfortunately, the talks held by our delegation with Finland and Sweden were not at the desired level», Erdogan said while speaking to reporters on his plane following a trip to Azerbaijan, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency. Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Erdogan, said on Friday after meeting with Swedish and Finnish delegations that Turkey is «not under time pressure to solve this issue until that summit.»
«We are determined to ensure that the process moves forward on a solid basis and that it progresses depending on the steps taken to meet Turkey’s security concerns», Kalin said. Some background: Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO earlier this month, driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
