Zelensky’s front line visit shows Ukraine’s resilience

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a dramatic statement of defiance on Friday, releasing a video filmed on the edge of a besieged city whose capture Russia touted almost a month ago.

Zelensky’s video came as his troops said they had successfully counterattacked in the city, Kupyansk, defying the Kremlin’s attempts to depict its nearly four-year invasion as an inexorable advance.

Standing next to a sign marking the northeastern city’s entrance, Zelensky thanked Ukrainian troops for defending it and strengthening Ukraine’s hand in U.S.-backed negotiations to end the war.

“The Russians kept going on about Kupyansk,” Zelensky said, recording a selfie video as the sound of explosions echoed from the city behind him. “The reality speaks for itself.”

Zelensky is known for getting close to the action, but his trip to Kupyansk—once home to 26,000 people and now largely deserted—might be his riskiest yet and came at a critical time.

President Trump has said Ukraine is losing the war with Russia and wants Zelensky to conclude a quick peace deal, even at the cost of major concessions to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin last month predicted the imminent collapse of Kyiv’s forces, pointing to the supposed capture of Kupyansk as a portent of further Russian breakthroughs across the front line.

Zelensky’s government is jockeying to maintain U.S. support during continuing peace talks and pushing back against Russian demands that it hand over territory Moscow has failed to conquer in nearly four years of war.

The Khartia Corps of Ukraine’s National Guard on Friday said it had pushed Russian troops out of several districts in northern Kupyansk and taken back a string of villages in the area, capturing more than a dozen prisoners-of-war.

In an interview on Friday, Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military-intelligence chief, said Ukrainian forces are holding the line and are far from losing their capacity to repel Russia’s assaults, issuing an assessment that contrasts with the dreary picture painted by Ukraine’s negotiating partners.

“There is a relatively stable front line, and breaking through it is extremely difficult,” Budanov said, adding that neither side currently has the capacity for a breakthrough. “The front line is moving dynamically, but in a controlled manner. This is negative for us, but it is not a collapse of the front.”

Ukraine faces severe challenges, primarily in recruiting enough personnel, leaving front-line units short on infantry and increasingly brittle. Russia has also made advances in drone warfare that some analysts say has neutralized what was once a Ukrainian advantage.

The challenge for Ukraine is to hold the front amid declining Western military support. Officials in Kyiv say the country needs more interceptor rockets and the air-defense systems from which they are fired, as well as long-range missiles to strike deep behind front lines.

While things are getting extremely challenging for Ukrainians, President Zelensky is doing all he can to keep their morale up.