Zelensky visited troops in Donetsk region amid intensified fighting in the east
On Thursday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled by train from Kyiv to the east of the country to visit Ukrainian troops on the front line. The trip took place amid intense fighting in the region.
Zelensky invited journalists from The New York Times to accompany him on his trip to Donetsk Oblast. During his stay in the east, he held several conversations with the newspaper's correspondent and photographer Brendan Hoffman.
The president explained that he wanted to visit Donetsk Oblast specifically because Russia insists on transferring the entire region to it as part of a potential peace agreement, including territories controlled by Ukraine.
"It's not about kilometres, it's about people. You can see that the city is alive," Zelensky said during a conversation on a bench in a park in Kramatorsk.
According to the president, almost 200,000 people live in the part of Donetsk Oblast controlled by Ukraine. Shops are open in the city, people walk their dogs and ride bicycles.
At the same time, the front line runs about 10 miles from Kramatorsk. According to journalists, Russian drone operators have been attacking the city with drones for almost six months.
The conversation with the president took place in several stages. It was interrupted by wet snow and an air raid siren. The rest of the conversation took place in an underground command post during lunch, and the final part took place on the train on the way back to Kyiv.
Zelensky said that Ukraine is ready to share its combat experience and technology with US allies in the Middle East, but at the same time needs more support in the war with Russia.
According to him, Ukraine has already sent Ukrainian-made interceptor drones and a team of drone specialists to Jordan to protect American military bases. The president also said that other Ukrainian experts could travel to Middle Eastern countries to help them counter Iranian Shahed drones.
Zelensky noted that the Persian Gulf countries are currently actively using Patriot missiles to intercept drones. At the same time, Ukraine also needs these systems to protect itself from Russian ballistic missiles.
The president's trip to the front lasted almost 27 hours. After an eight-hour train journey to a station near Kharkiv, the president's motorcade travelled for several hours by road towards Donetsk.
Zelensky visited Ukrainian troops in Druzhkivka, where Russian shelling occurs almost daily. While the president was in an underground command post nearby, a Russian guided aerial bomb hit its target.
During the trip, the president presented awards to the military and spoke with commanders. Some of the soldiers, he said, have been fighting for 12 years.
"We are in a very intense and difficult situation. The military needs many things, and their needs change every day," Zelensky said.
The president also commented on statements by US President Donald Trump, who previously said that Zelensky was an obstacle to achieving peace. The Ukrainian leader responded cautiously.
"I thought it was so clear who the aggressor is and who is not," he said.
Zelensky also said he had heard different signals from US Special Representative Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. According to him, they are working to reach agreements.
The next round of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US was supposed to take place in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, but it was postponed.
After returning to Kyiv, an air raid alert was in effect in the capital at night. At that time, Patriot missiles were operating in the sky.
That night, Russia launched 480 drones and 29 missiles at Ukrainian cities, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. The Ukrainian military shot down 453 drones and 19 missiles.
In Kramatorsk, six people, including three children, were injured as a result of an aerial bomb strike. In Kharkiv, a missile strike killed ten people, including a second- and eighth-grade schoolboy and their mothers.
