It is only thanks to "our warriors' strength" that the east has not been completely occupied by Russia, writes Zelenskyj in a social media post about the visit to the logistically important hub Pokrovsk.
The President writes that the "enemy" in the area is confronted every day and adds that he has spoken with soldiers and given them awards.
Just over a mile from Pokrovsk, northwest of Donetsk, lies the village of Novooleksijivka, which Russia claimed on Monday to have "liberated", i.e. taken, according to reports from the Defense Department in Moscow.
Deadly drones
At the same time, reports emerged from the Ukrainian port city of Odessa of many dead and injured in a Russian drone attack. In the afternoon, the death toll was counted to ten and the injured to over 40, including four children.
"Russian terrorists carried out a drone attack on Odessa", writes the region's governor Oleh Kiper on the messaging service Telegram.
Earlier in the day, it was announced that the city of Sumy in northern Ukraine had been hit by a major power outage. This followed a new Russian drone attack carried out just after midnight local time, according to local authorities.
The death toll is also being written up after Sunday's attack on a residential area in the city. At least ten civilians are reported to have been killed, including a nine-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl. 52 people were injured, according to the regional governor.
Over 400 people have been evacuated from residential buildings damaged in the attack.
Nighttime attacks
In Russia, two Ukrainian drones were shot down outside Moscow, according to the Russian capital's mayor Sergej Sobjanin on Telegram.
In total, 59 Ukrainian drones were shot down during the night, including 45 in the border region of Brjansk, according to the Russian Defense Department.
