Zelensky visits recaptured hub of Izium in east Ukraine

AFP.com, 14 Sept, 2022- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday visited the east Ukraine city of Izium, the military said, one of the largest cities recently recaptured from Russia by Kyiv’s army in a lightning counter-offensive. Ukraine has set its sights on freeing all territory occupied by invading Russian forces after driving them back in a speedy counter-offensive in the northeast.

Zelensky promised “victory” on the visit which comes at a decisive moment in Russia’s six-month invasion, with Ukraine routing Moscow’s forces from swathes of the east and seriously undermining the Kremlin’s ambitions to capture the entire Donbas region of Ukraine.

“Our blue-yellow flag is already flying in deoccupied Izium. And it will be so in every Ukrainian city and village,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media. “We are moving in only one direction -- forward and towards victory.”