Zelensky appears in Avdiivka, meets troops on front line
President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video on Friday, Dec. 29, while standing in front of a sign saying “Avdiivka is Ukraine.” The video was filmed on what appears to be the entry road into the embattled town at risk of being encircled from three sides, Kyiv Post reports.
As the President spoke, the sound of shelling could be heard in the background.
“Avdiivka. I visited the positions of the 110th Mechanized Brigade,” he wrote on Telegram alongside a video of him giving medals to soldiers.
Avdiivka. I visited the positions of the 110th «Marko Bezruchko» Mechanized Brigade. One of the toughest spots of the frontline.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 29, 2023
I personally thanked the warriors. We reviewed the defense situation and our troops’ key needs with the commander. I honored the best servicemen with… pic.twitter.com/NRQdoB6tOy
The highly symbolic gesture comes at a moment when Russian troops have been dealing with massive casualties in a nearly three-month offensive on the important town within artillery range of the Russian-controlled Donetsk airport.
“This is one of the most difficult areas of the front line,”Zelensky wrote.
“I thank all those who are at the first line [of fire] for their service, for this year during which the entire country survived thanks to its soldiers,” he said.
Zelensky has visited the front line many times since Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
