'Life Comes Back' To City As Zelensky Visits Kharkiv Area

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has visited the recently recaptured city of Izium to thank his troops for their bravery.

- Rory Sullivan

In a counterattack that took Moscow by surprise, Kyiv's forces have pushed the Russian army out of much of Kharkiv province in less than a week. Mr Zelensky said his soldiers have retaken around 8,000 sq km in the northeast province, in a humiliating blow for Vladimir Putin.

Mr Zelensky was later involved in a car accident yesterday, but was not seriously hurt, officials have said. The leader’s vehicle was involved in a traffic accident in Kyiv, and the president was later seen by a doctor.

Yesterday, the Ukrainian president, who has paid many surprise visits to the front lines during the war, attended a flag-raising ceremony in Izium, a city used as an important supply hub by the Russian occupiers. He was pictured with soldiers and the deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar. Much of the city has been destroyed by airstrikes, with piles of rubble lying where homes used to stand. “The view is very shocking but it is not shocking for me,” Mr. Zelensky told onlookers there.