Ukrainian President met troops on the frontlines in Donbas Sunday as heavy fighting raged in the eastern industrial region that Moscow has focused its forces on taking, writes France24.

Volodymyr Zelensky visited command posts and frontline positions in Lysychansk, which sits across the Siverskyi Donets river from Severodonetsk, where Ukrainian troops were pushing back against Russian forces who had earlier appeared on the verge of taking the strategic city.

He also visited Bakhmut, to the southwest in the Donetsk region of Donbas, and talked with servicemen.

“I am proud of everyone whom I met, whom I shook hands with, with whom I communicated, whom I supported”, - Zelensky said in his daily evening address after his visit.

He said he also travelled to Zaporizhzhia in the southeast to meet with residents of Mariupol who had managed to leave the port city that was destroyed by months of Russian bombardment.

“Each family has its own story. Most were without men. Someone’s husband went to war, someone’s is in captivity, someone’s, unfortunately, died. A tragedy. No home, no loved one. But we must live for the children. True heroes -- they are among us”, - Zelensky said.

He previously visited frontlines at the end of May, while there is no indication Putin has been anywhere near the battlefield since he launched his invasion.