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What did Zelensky's front-line visit show on 6 June 2022?
Summary
A look back at the Ukrainian president's trip to the Luhansk–Donetsk front, a Russian push near Bila Krynytsia and a defence minister's forecast for the war's end.
What was happening on the Ukrainian front as 6 June 2022 began? Reports from the preceding days pointed to a president visiting troops, a renewed Russian advance and an official forecasting an end to the war.
A visit to the front
In his evening address on 5 June 2022, President Zelensky said he had visited troops on the front line on the border of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, including in Lysychansk and Soledar. He said he was proud of everyone he had met, shaken hands with and talked to, and of those he had supported.
Fighting near Bila Krynytsia
Also on 5 June, Russian forces launched an offensive on Bila Krynytsia, which Ukrainian forces had recently recaptured. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military administration, said Russian units had returned to positions they had previously occupied.
A forecast from Bratislava
On 4 June 2022, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov spoke at the GLOBSEC-2022 forum in Bratislava, Slovakia. He said it was hard to predict when the war would end, but that his optimistic forecast was that it could be over by the end of the year.
Taken together, the reports from 4 and 5 June set a presidential visit to the front and an optimistic public forecast alongside fighting in which a recently retaken position was again contested.
