Kyiv, June 18: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited soldiers on the southern front line during a working trip to the Mykolaiv region, he said on Saturday, without specifying when the visit took place.

In his trademark khaki t-shirt, the president handed out medals and posed for selfies with the servicemen in what appeared to be an underground shelter, according to a video posted to his official Telegram account.

“Our brave men. Each one of them is working flat out,” he said. “We will definitely hold out! We will definitely win!”

Russian forces reached the outskirts of the regional capital Mykolaiv in early March but were then driven back to the eastern and southern edges of the region, where fighting is ongoing.

Zelenskiy’s office said the president also visited the city and inspected the destroyed regional administration building, where 37 people were killed in late March when a missile blasted through the building.

He also visited a hospital in Mykolaiv and awarded honors for bravery to Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych and Governor Vitaliy Kim for their work during the four months of Russia’s invasion, his office said in a separate statement.-Agencies