Kiev, 4 February 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited soldiers fighting in the Zaporizhzhya section of the war's front line in south-eastern Ukraine on Sunday, where he was briefed on the situation.

The nation's defenders "are facing a difficult and critical mission to repel the enemy and defend Ukraine," Zelensky said in a video posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Zelensky also appointed the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, as the new governor of Zaporizhzhya region, which is partly occupied by Russian troops.

Ukraine still needs the West's support to continue fighting off the Russian invasion, Zelensky said earlier in his Saturday video address.

"It is absolutely essential to preserve the maximum consolidation of the free world and to do everything possible and impossible so that Ukraine can inflict defeats on Russia," said Zelensky. Only through defeats will Russia realize that it must end its war, he said.

Further east, at least 28 people were killed and 10 injured in the shelling of a bakery the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk, which is occupied by Russian troops, local authorities said on Sunday.

"The Ukrainian forces shelled a bakery in Lysychansk, civilians are among the rubble," wrote Leonid Pasechnik, the head of pro-Russian separatists forces in the Luhansk region, on his Telegram channel. He said those responsible would be punished.

The authorities say the site was hit with a western weaponry, meaning by Kiev. The city was shelled with HIMARS rocket artillery, the city said.

Russia claims Ukraine deliberately targeted the bakery in the Russian-occupied area, knowing that there were many people in the bakery at the time.

Ukraine has not commented on the attack. The Russian statements could not be independently verified.

Photo: MIA