Item 1 of 5 Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to a report of senior officers while he visits a command position of the 128th Zakarpattia Separate Mountain Assault Brigade at a front line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine November 13, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
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“(Zaporizhzhia) is an important city, the enemy certainly wants it. We certainly have to defend it,” he said, awarding medals to troops and discussing ways to strengthen the lines.
MANPOWER SHORTAGES
Neither side has made major breakthroughs on the battlefield since the first year of Russia’s 2022 invasion. But Moscow’s forces, which control 19% of Ukraine, have been on the offensive since late 2023 and have gradually edged forward.
Roughly half of Russia’s frontline gains in the last two months have come around the southeastern settlements of Huliapole and Velyka Novosilka, said Konrad Muzyka, director of the Rochan military consultancy in Poland.
“Although this is not the main Russian effort, Ukraine’s shortage of manpower has allowed Russian forces to make tactically significant advances,” he said.
The push west of Velyka Novosilka could threaten Huliapole from the north, he added.
“If Ukraine does not address these gaps, Russian forces may push further west — not only moving closer to Zaporizhzhia, but also risking the isolation of Ukrainian units in the south,” he said.
Pavlo Palisa, a military official in the president’s office, said Russian forces were probing for weak points and using foggy weather conditions to try to bypass Ukrainian positions in the southeast.
Syrskyi, the armed forces chief, said the eastern city of Pokrovsk remained the focus of Russia’s main offensive push and that Ukrainian forces had pressed actively on a nearby front, drawing away Russian troops to ease the pressure.
UKRAINE SAYS IT FIRED FLAMINGO MISSILE OVERNIGHT
Zelenskiy met soldiers in a bunker, spoke with military commanders and laid flowers for deceased soldiers on his trip. He said he discussed decisions needed to strengthen Ukrainian defences, including staffing and equipment.
The visit comes as Zelenskiy and his government are trying to extinguish the fallout from a corruption scandal in the energy sector, which has maddened Ukrainians facing widespread blackouts due to Russia’s bombing of power stations.
The military said it hit an oil terminal in occupied Crimea, an oil depot in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region and other military targets overnight. It said it used weapons including the Flamingo, a new Ukrainian-made ground-launched cruise missile it says has a range of thousands of kilometres.
Additional reporting by Anastasiia Malenko and Olena Harmash; Editing by William Maclean, Alex Richardson, Rod Nickel
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