KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the eastern frontline towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk on Monday, areas where Russia has been making steady advances to close in on the two logistics centres.
On Tuesday, Kyiv marks 1,000 days since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, with the war at a critical junction after the U.S. election win of Donald Trump. The Republican has promised to end the war without saying how, raising the prospect of future negotiations.
Pictures and video on the Ukrainian president's website showed Zelenskiy presenting awards to sergeants in both towns in the Donbas region.
"We are holding our positions," he said in his nightly video address, standing in front of a sign on the outskirts of Kupiansk.
Pokrovsk, site of a major coal mine, is Russia's next target in its drive westward to fully occupy both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which together make up the Donbas. Moscow's forces have advanced to within some 8 km (5 miles) of the city's outskirts.
"I know that only thanks to your strength the East has not been completely occupied by the Russian Federation," Zelenskiy said in a video posted on the website.
Pokrovsk lies at an intersection of roads and a railway that make it an important logistics point for the military and for civilians. Its coal mine is the only one in Ukraine that produces coking coal vital for the national steel industry.
Kupiansk lies further north in Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have also been pressing. Ukrainian military reports last week said some Russian soldiers had briefly entered the city.
RUSSIA SAYS IT CAPTURED VILLAGE
Russia's Defence Ministry reported its forces had captured the village of Novooleksiivka between Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, another area to the south under Russian attack.
The military blog Rybar said Russian troops had extended their control over the area, particularly in forested areas.
Ukraine's General Staff made no acknowledgement that Novooleksiivka was in Russian hands, but noted it was part of an area where its forces had repelled 27 of 35 Russian attacks.
Zelenskiy's office said he also visited other parts of Donetsk region to check the state of fortifications and discuss preparations for the looming winter with regional officials.
The bulk of infrastructure - for the supply of water, electricity and natural gas - has been destroyed in the region, as cities and towns have come under daily attack.
Vadym Filashkin, the regional governor, said about 324,000 civilians remained in Kyiv-held parts of the region, down from about 2 million before the invasion.
Donetsk region, where Russian proxy forces launched an insurgency in 2014, is one of four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow claimed to have annexed unilaterally in late 2022.
The governor of Zaporizhzhia region further west said at least 10 Russian drones had attacked the region's largest city, also called Zaporizhzhia. Some 10,000 residents were without power.
Earlier, officials in the Black Sea port of Odesa said a Russian missile attack had killed 10 people and wounded 55, three of them seriously.
Russia occupies a fifth of Ukraine and has been advancing at its fastest rate since 2022 in recent months.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash and Anastasiia Malenko; editing by Ron Popeski and Stephen Coates)