Ukrainian president extends tour of war’s front-line areas

By HANNA ARHIROVA
Associated Press

OKHTYRKA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president has visited the Sumy region in northern Ukraine, continuing his tour over recent days of areas of the country that have felt the brunt of Russia’s full-scale invasion. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Tuesday with officials and local people in two cities in the region that borders Russia. It was partially occupied by Russian forces after the full-scale invasion last year. The Russians withdrew from the region by early April. Zelenskyy’s trip followed his visits over the past seven days to the eastern Kherson and Kharkiv regions which were retaken last year from the Kremlin’s forces, to the intensely contested Donetsk area of Bakhmut, and to Zaporizhzhia in the south.