LAST UPDATE | 18 Jun 2022

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR Zelenskyy visited the war-damaged southern city of Mykolaiv today for the first time since the Russian invasion in a rare trip outside Kyiv.

Zelenskyy’s office published a video of him looking at a badly damaged high-rise residential building in the city and holding a meeting with local officials.

His visit comes a day after a Russian strike killed two people and injured 20 in the city.

Mykolaiv has been targeted by Russian forces since the start of their invasion on 24 February.

In the video Zelenskyy was shown damage to a residential building by local governor Vitaliy Kim.

The tall building had a gaping hole, with the inside of apartments visible.

A blue and yellow Ukrainian trident was seen in one of the shattered windows.

Zelenskyy also took part in a meeting with local officials in what looked like an underground basement, giving out awards for bravery.

His office said they “discussed the state of the economy, the restoration of water supplies and the situation in agriculture”.

“Special attention was paid to threats from land and sea. We do not stop working for victory,” the statement read.

Mykolaiv has been holding the defence of southern Ukraine, as it lies on the way to the key strategic Black Sea port of Odessa.

The city is around 100 kilometres northwest of Kherson, which fell to Russian forces in the first weeks of the war.

The regional administrative building was hit by a Russian strike in March, tearing a hole through the centre of the complex and killing more than a dozen people.

Zelensky has been based in Kyiv since Moscow invaded, making his first trip outside the capital to the eastern city of Kharkiv in late May.

European Union aspiration

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 next week.

All 27 leaders must back Ukraine’s candidacy at a Brussels summit next 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 this week.

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

“Ukrainian institutions maintain resilience even in conditions of war. Ukrainian democratic habits have not lost their power even now,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.

On Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made her support of clear by donning a striking outfit in Ukraine’s national colours in blue and yellow.

“We all know that Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective. We want them to live with us for the European dream,” she said.

‘More destruction’

Zelenskyy’s comments came as fighting raged in villages outside the eastern city of Severodonetsk in the Donbas region, which Moscow’s forces have been trying to seize for weeks.

“Now the most fierce battles are near Severodonetsk. They (Russia) do not control the city entirely,” the governor of the eastern Lugansk region, Sergiy Gaiday, said on Telegram.

“In nearby villages there are very difficult fights — in Toshkivska, Zolote. They are trying to break through but failing,” he said, adding that Ukrainian forces were “fighting Russians in all directions.”

Gaiday said there was “more destruction” at the besieged Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where he said 568 people were sheltering, including 38 children.

He also said Lysychansk — a Ukrainian-controlled city across a river from battered Severodonetsk — is being “heavily shelled”.

Lysychansk residents were preparing to be evacuated.

“We’re abandoning everything and going. No one can survive such a strike,” said history teacher Alla Bor, waiting with her son-in-law Volodymyr and 14-year-old grandson.

“We are abandoning everything, we are leaving our house. We left our dog with food. It’s inhumane but what can you do?”

Eurovision

Moscow has turned up the pressure on Western allies by sharply reducing flows of natural gas in its pipelines to western Europe, driving up energy prices in a region dependent on Russian gas.

France’s network provider said it had not received any Russian gas by pipeline from Germany since June 15, and Italy’s Eni said it expected Russian firm Gazprom to cut its supplies by half on Friday.

Ukraine was meanwhile battling on another front — the right to host next year’s Eurovision song contest after its morale-boosting win this year.

Kyiv condemned a decision by organisers to move the 2023 version of the world’s biggest live music event on security grounds, possibly to Britain.

“We will demand to change this decision, because we believe that we will be able to fulfil all the commitments,” Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said.

Currently, the BBC is in talks with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about hosting the event.

Speaking today, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he would like to see Ukraine host the Eurovision next year, saying that the country’s people “deserve to have it”.

He believed it would be possible to host the competition in Ukraine, despite the war.

“I have just been to Kyiv. I won’t say it is completely jiving and buzzing and popping but it is far, far more lively. People are much more confident. People are out in the streets eating in cafes and restaurants in a way that they weren’t a even few weeks ago,” he said.

“The Ukrainians won the Eurovision Song Contest. I know we had a fantastic entry, I know we came second and I’d love it to be in this country.

“But the fact is that they won and they deserve to have it. I believe that they can have it and I believe that they should have it. I believe that Kyiv or any other safe Ukrainian city would be a fantastic place to have it.”

Additional reporting by Press Association

© AFP 2022