KYIV, Ukraine, Nov 13, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he had visited troops near the frontline in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where Russia has made recent advances in its almost four-year invasion.

His visit came as Russia claimed to have taken two more villages in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions and as Kyiv scrambled to keep hold of the eastern hub of Pokrovsk.

Zelensky said on X that he had visited the "command post of the 65th Separate Mechanised Brigade" near the frontline town of Orikhiv, publishing photographs of his meeting with troops.

"I listened to a report on the operational situation in this sector, enemy activity, and losses among the occupiers," Zelensky said.

Kyiv has said that Russia has intensified its offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Russia earlier this week captured three villages in the southern region partially occupied by Moscow but where fighting has been largely frozen.

The Ukrainian leader announced the visit as Kyiv is engulfed by a major corruption scandal involving Zelensky's associates that has caused outrage in a nation exhausted by war.