Kyiv [Ukraine], February 20: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a visit to troops near the eastern front on Monday after spending the weekend in Germany trying to rally Kiev's allies as the two-year anniversary of Russia's all-out invasion nears.
"I am happy to be here today and to see you," he said as he presented medals to combat troops during a ceremony at a command post near the city of Kupiansk in the war-battered Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said earlier that two more Russian fighter jets had been shot down.
The Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-35C crashed in the occupied part of the Donetsk region near Mariupol, he said.
By Kiev's count, the Russians have now lost five fighter jets within three days. There has been no confirmation of the downings from the Russian side.
Ukraine's battlefield momentum has been stalled for months and Zelensky recently replaced much of the military leadership in the most significant shake-up since the war began.
Ukraine's forces at the weekend withdrew from Avdiivka, a town in the Donestk region that had been fiercely contested.
In an effort to shore up support from European partners, Zelensky visited leaders in Paris and Berlin on Friday.
He then attended the Munich Security Conference, an annual meeting of high-ranking decision-makers, where he met with US Vice President Kamala Harris and appealed for the US Congress to approve a stalled military aid package.
Elsewhere, in Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday that at least 23,000 people are missing in Ukraine and their fate is unclear.
They may have been arrested or abducted or died - or relatives lost track of each other when fleeing the conflict, the ICRC said.
Source: Qatar Tribune
