Mr. Zelensky greeted troops in Lysychansk, one of the last cities in Luhansk that Ukrainians fully control and just across the river from Severodonetsk, the center of the fight for control of the Donbas area, which includes Luhansk.
It is the closest Ukraine’s president has come to the fighting since Russian forces pulled out of the Kyiv area in central Ukraine in March. Moscow has been focusing its firepower in Donbas recently.
Ukrainian forces are increasingly optimistic about beating back Russian attempts to capture Severodonetsk, the capital of the Luhansk region, which together with Donetsk makes up Donbas. After having almost entirely lost control of the city last week, Ukraine launched a series of counterattacks over the weekend, and has pushed the Russians back to the outskirts of the city, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Moscow has spent more than a week trying to capture Severodonetsk, pausing offensives in other parts of the country and pouring troops and equipment into the city. Yet its superior artillery power has been of limited use in the close, urban combat, allowing Ukraine to effectively strike back.
The general killed Sunday, Russian Army Maj. Gen. Roman Kutuzov, was less than 30 miles from Lysychansk when he died, as his forces tried to sever the road between Severodonetsk and the town of Bakhmut, according to Russian media. Ukrainian officials posted photographs of what they claimed were Gen. Kutuzov’s remains, suggesting that his body is in Ukrainian custody.
Mr. Zelensky also visited Soledar, in the Donbas region, and Zaporizhzhia, where he met families who had fled Mariupol, a port city in the Donetsk region that Russia took control of last month. “We brought something to the military," he said in a video address early Monday morning. “We brought confidence."
For now, Moscow retains an advantage in firepower, which it has used to strike other parts of Ukraine, even as the fighting in Severodonetsk has turned in Ukraine’s favor.
Over the weekend, Russia fired missiles into the area of Kyiv, the capital, and Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine. On Sunday night, Russians repeatedly shelled the Kharkiv region in the north. Oleh Synyehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said on Telegram Sunday night that a handful of villages in the region had been hit by Russian shells.
Fighting in the region was heaviest around Izyum, Mr. Synyehubov said. But Russian forces have been unable to make gains in the area, according to the Institute for the Study of War, because they have continued to give priority to taking Severodonetsk.
“Ukrainian counteroffensive pressure will likely continue to draw the attention of Russian forces to Luhansk Oblast and therefore leave vulnerabilities in Russian defensive efforts in Kharkiv Oblast and along the Southern Axis," the institute said Sunday.
While Mr. Zelensky was visiting Donbas, the flow of military equipment from the West has continued to accelerate. On Monday morning, the U.K. promised to send long-range missiles to Kyiv for the first time; the U.S. said last week it would send a guided-rocket system capable of striking targets as far as 48 miles away. Spain is preparing to send Leopard tanks, according to Spanish media. Germany has been negotiating with Greece to transfer armored vehicles to Kyiv. Ukrainian leaders hope the increased firepower will help them push the Russians back.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday on state television that deliveries of Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, or MLRS, wouldn’t change anything, calling it an effort by the West to make up for military equipment that Ukraine had already lost. He did, however, indicate it may prompt Russia to escalate its attacks.
“If they are supplied, we will draw appropriate conclusions from this and use our own weapons, of which we have enough, to hit targets that we have not yet struck," Mr. Putin said.
