UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR Zelenskyy said he was visiting “advanced positions” of Ukraine’s special forces near the hotspot of Bakhmut as Kyiv ramps up its counter-offensive.

“The Bakhmut direction, advanced positions of the Special Operations Forces,” Zelenskyy said on messaging app Telegram.

“I am here to congratulate our warriors on their professional day, to honour their strength.”

Zelenskyy said he was not at liberty to disclose details of the special forces’ current operations.

He said he heard a commander’s report and spoke with the troops, praising their “truly heroic” performance.

The Ukrainian SOF did not let our country be occupied, Ukraine and everything we have: our identity, our life be destroyed. Thank you for the fact that even after 520 days of the very difficult full-scale war for our freedom and the lives of all of us, our children – the present… pic.twitter.com/8R8MROvR4l

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 29, 2023

Ukraine last month began its highly anticipated fightback after stockpiling Western weapons and building up its offensive forces.

Kyiv has however admitted difficult battles and called on the United States and other allies to provide long-range weapons and artillery.

Ukrainian authorities have said Kyiv’s troops are gradually moving forward near the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces seized in May.

Dnipro strike

Elsewhere, a Russian missile struck an apartment block in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, Kyiv officials said, injuring at least nine people including two children.

“Dnipro. Another terrorist attack,” said Sergiy Kruk, head of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, on Telegram.

“Currently, we know of 9 injured, including two children. Work continues.”

Internal Affairs Minister Igor Klymenko earlier reported “a Russian strike on a multistorey building in Dnipro”, saying five people had been injured.

Russia said its forces struck a command post in Dnipro.

“On the evening of 28 July, the Russian armed forces attacked a command post of the Ukrainian armed forces in the city of Dnepropetrovsk with high-precision weapons,” the Russian defence ministry said, referring to Dnipro by its earlier name.

“The designated target has been hit.”

At least 9 civilians were injured as a result of yet another missile attack on the city of Dnipro. Among them are two children and a 77-year-old woman. The "high-precision" weapon used by russian terrorists hit an apartment building this time. Since this building was recently… pic.twitter.com/ig3wndgM2L

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 28, 2023

Zelenskyy said: “Dnipro. Friday evening. A high-rise building and the Security Service of Ukraine’s building were hit. Russian missile terror again”.

“All necessary services are on site… We keep the situation under control. We will do everything to bring Russia to full punishment for aggression and terror against our people.”

It comes after Russia said on Friday it had intercepted two Ukrainian missiles over its southern Rostov region, bordering Ukraine.

Russia’s defence ministry said at least a dozen people were wounded by debris falling on the city of Taganrog.

The ministry also said the missile was aimed at “residential infrastructure” of the city of around 250,000 people.

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Russian regions bordering Ukraine have seen regular drone strikes and shelling since Moscow launched its military campaign in February last year but have hardly ever been targeted by missiles.

Shoigu ‘looking for weapons’

Elsewhere, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the United States believes Russia’s defence minister is in North Korea to secure supplies of weapons to aid the stalled invasion of Ukraine.

Following Sergei Shoigu’s arrival on a rare trip to Pyongyang, Blinken said that Russia is scrambling to buy arms from allies across the world.

“I strongly doubt he’s there on holiday,” Blinken told reporters in Australia.

“We’re seeing Russia desperately looking for support, for weapons, wherever it can find them to continue to prosecute its aggression against Ukraine,” he said.

“We see that in North Korea, we see that as well with Iran, which has provided many drones to Russia that it’s using to destroy civilian infrastructure and killed civilians in Ukraine.”

While in North Korea, Shoigu met the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, in what Pyongyang’s state media described as “a friendly talk.”

Russia, a historic ally of North Korea, is one of a handful of nations with which Pyongyang maintains friendly relations.

© AFP 2023