During a working trip to the Donetsk region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid tribute to the memory of Ukrainian servicemen perished in the battles for Avdiivka.
The Head of State laid flowers at the Monument to the fallen soldiers and honored the memory of the military with a bow.
"Today is exactly 200 days since we agreed on a comprehensive ceasefire. And we all see that the number of attacks by militants has increased recently. However skeptical one may be about the word "truce", a ceasefire is needed and it is an achievement. It saved the real lives of our military and civilians," the President stressed.
He reminded that in 2018, 121 servicemen were killed and 799 were wounded in Donbas. In 2019, 100 servicemen were killed, 507 were wounded. In 2020, 50 servicemen were killed and 338 were wounded.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that in recent weeks the number of shelling occasions has indeed increased, which is related , in particular, to the attempts to put pressure on the Ukrainian party in the negotiations of the Trilateral Contact Group.
Foreign ambassadors also laid flowers at the memorial and honored the memory of Ukrainian soldiers with a moment of silence.
