Zelenskiy Urges Stronger Defences as Russia Advances in Southeastern Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited troops near the southeastern front on Thursday, emphasizing the urgent need to reinforce defensive lines as Russian forces intensify attacks far from their primary eastern offensive. During his visit near Orikhiv—a village he described as one of the most challenging points along the front—Zelenskiy warned that holding the line there is essential to protecting the strategic city of Zaporizhzhia. He met soldiers in frontline bunkers, awarded medals, and discussed manpower and equipment needs with commanders.

The visit comes at a time when Kyiv is grappling with a corruption scandal within the energy sector, further frustrating citizens already dealing with severe power outages caused by Russian strikes on critical infrastructure. Despite these domestic issues, Zelenskiy stressed that defending Zaporizhzhia remains a top priority, as Moscow continues to exert pressure across multiple fronts.

Russian forces, now occupying about 19% of Ukraine, have steadily advanced since late 2023. As they push closer to the eastern city of Pokrovsk and intensify operations near Kupiansk, new gains in the southeast are adding to Ukraine’s concerns. According to military analyst Konrad Muzyka, nearly half of Russia’s recent territorial gains have occurred around the southeastern settlements of Huliapole and Velyka Novosilka. He notes that Ukraine’s ongoing manpower shortages have enabled Russia to make tactically meaningful progress. If gaps in Ukraine’s defensive lines are not addressed, he warns, Russian troops could move further west, potentially isolating Ukrainian units and threatening Zaporizhzhia from multiple directions.

Military officials say Russian forces are exploiting foggy weather and probing Ukrainian defenses in search of vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Ukraine has ramped up long-range drone and missile attacks on Russian energy assets. The Ukrainian military confirmed it struck an oil terminal in occupied Crimea, an oil depot in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, and other targets overnight using various weapons, including the new Flamingo ground-launched cruise missile, which reportedly has a range stretching into the thousands of kilometers.

These strikes follow months of Ukrainian efforts to disrupt Russia’s refining capacity, which at one point saw up to 20% of its facilities taken offline due to attacks and maintenance disruptions.