Russia-Ukraine War: Zelenskyy Visits Front Lines, Meets With Ukrainian Marines

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the front lines in the eastern region to meet with the Ukrainian marines to thank them for their service in pushing back against Russian forces. This comes as fighting has also been intense in the eastern region as Russia continues to wage war since invading in February last year.

Video footage released on Tuesday showed Zelenskyy visiting the eastern front lines to meet with his country’s marines, thanking them for their service in pushing back against Russian forces. Zelenskyy also handed out dozens of awards to the male and female marines in combat attire marking the National Day of the Ukrainian Marines. Zelenskyy also handed out decorations to commanders of several marine units.

Zelenskyy also said Kyiv would be creating a specialized marine corps and pledged to provide new weapons and equipment.

“Happy Marines Day especially to such strong people who are in one of the hottest but also one of the strongest sectors – the Vuhledar-Marinka direction,” said Zelenskyy during his visit.

The Ukrainian military has said in its daily update that it was able to repel numerous offensives by Russian forces in Marinka, which is in the eastern Donetsk region, one of the four territories Moscow claimed to have annexed last year. Ukraine and its allies condemned the annexation, saying that it was only brought about by a “sham” referendum following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the British defense ministry said in its intelligence bulletin that reports from independent Russian journalists found that there have been 1,053 cases of personnel going on an absence without leave, as heard before the Russian courts from January to May this year, more than during 2022. The ministry said that Moscow has struggled to discipline in its ranks throughout what it has called its “special military operation” in Ukraine and that the issue may have worsened since October last year following the Kremlin’s order to mobilize reserve troops.

The court data cited by the journalists found that most of the personnel that was found guilty of going AWOL have been punished or received suspended sentences, which meant that they could be redeployed to fight in Ukraine.

Photo: President.gov.ua/Wikimedia Commons(CC by 2.0)