Ukrainian President rallies troops in south; British PM visits Kyiv

KYIV • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited soldiers on the southern front line during a working trip to the Mykolaiv region, he said yesterday, without specifying when the visit took place.

In his trademark khaki T-shirt, the President handed out medals and posed for selfies with the servicemen in what appeared to be an underground shelter, showed a video posted to his official Telegram account.

"Our brave men. Each one of them is working flat out," he said. "We will definitely hold out! We will definitely win!"

Russian forces reached the outskirts of the regional capital Mykolaiv in early March but were then driven back to the eastern and southern edges of the region, where fighting is ongoing.

Mr Zelensky's office said the President also visited the city and inspected the destroyed regional administration building, where 37 people were killed in late March when a missile blasted through the building.

He also visited a hospital in Mykolaiv and awarded honours for bravery to Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych and Governor Vitaliy Kim for their work during the four months of Russia's invasion, his office said in a separate statement.

On Friday, Mr Zelensky hailed Brussels' support for Kyiv's European Union bid as a historic achievement, as "fierce battles" raged again in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

The European Commission spearheaded a powerful show of solidarity on Friday by backing Ukraine for EU candidate status, an endorsement that could add it to the list of countries vying for membership as early as this week.

All 27 leaders must back Ukraine's candidacy at a Brussels summit this week but the heads of the bloc's biggest members - France, Germany and Italy - gave full-throated support to the idea during a highly symbolic visit to Kyiv last week.

Even though EU membership could still be years away, Mr Zelensky called the decision a "historic achievement" and said it would "certainly bring our victory closer" against Russia.

Fighting has continued to rage in villages outside the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk in the Donbas region, which Moscow's forces have been trying to seize for weeks.

"Now the most fierce battles are near Sievierodonetsk. They do not control the city entirely," Mr Sergiy Gaiday, governor of the eastern Luhansk region, said on Telegram, referring to the Russians.

A resident said her family is leaving behind everything, including the family dog.

"We're abandoning everything and going. No one can survive such a strike," said history teacher Alla Bor, who was with her son-in-law and 14-year-old grandson. "We left our dog with food. It's inhumane but what can you do?"

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday paid a second, surprise, visit to the capital, Kyiv, offering a training programme for the country's military in a fresh show of support for Ukraine's government.

During the visit, Mr Johnson promised a new package of help with the potential to train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days and to provide the "strategic endurance" required to drive out Russian forces.

Britain has already provided extensive military support to Ukraine. The three-week course would provide training in front-line battle skills, medical techniques, cyber security and tactics for countering explosives.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTIMES, REUTERS