Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, spoke this Wednesday with the Portuguese prime minister, Luís Montenegro, who he informed about the situation on the front line and about "Russia's attempts to expand the war". 

These reasons, wrote Zelensky on the social network X, will have motivated the cancellation of the visits to Portugal and Spain.

In the same publication, the Ukrainian head of state states that "all attention is focused on the defensive operation and on contact with the military", which led to the "postponement of all visits abroad".

In the same call, the president of Ukraine and the Portuguese prime minister discussed "in detail the next Peace Summit, which has the potential to be the first step towards restoring a just peace".

"I am grateful to Prime Minister Montenegro for confirming Portugal's presence and for assuring me that his country will use its contacts to ensure maximum international support for the Peace Summit", wrote Volodymyr Zelensky at the end. 

I spoke with Portugal’s Prime Minister @LMontenegroPM to inform him about the frontline situation and Russia’s attempts to expand the war.

All attention is now focused on our ongoing defensive operations and contact with the military, necessitating the postponement of all…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 15, 2024

It should be noted that the Ukrainian president cancelled the visit to Spain and Portugal this Tuesday, after the date on which he would arrive in the neighbouring country became official and after the Portuguese defence minister, Nuno Melo, had confirmed the presence of the Ukrainian leader on national territory.

This decision is due to the serious internal situation in Ukraine, more specifically with a new Russian offensive that threatens Kharkiv, the country's second largest city, located about thirty kilometres south of the border with Russia.

It should be recalled that Russian troops crossed the border in the Kharkiv region in recent days, opening a new combat front and taking control of several locations, similar to what they had done in the first months of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

On Monday, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine acknowledged that the Russian Army had achieved "tactical successes" on the Kharkiv front, while the head of military operations in the region was replaced.

On the same day, a Russian airstrike on the city of Kharkiv caused at least 20 injuries, according to the local prosecutor's office, which stated in a statement that the victims were also in a state of "'acute stress'".

The Ukrainian Army announced Tuesday night that it had withdrawn forces from "certain areas" of the front in the Kharkiv region and that Russia was being successful in this offensive.

Read Also: Cancellation of Zelensky's visits shows "seriousness of the situation" (Portuguese version)