500th day of the Ukrainian war, Zelensky shares a video of his visit to Snake Island

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has shared a video of a trip to Snake Island in the Black Sea, a symbol of his country's fierce resistance, as Russian shelling in the east has killed at least seven people.

Russian forces launched a deadly strike in eastern Ukraine on Saturday as the President Volodymyr Zelensky was marking the 500th day of the war with a show of defiance, sharing a video of him visiting a Black Sea island that has become a potent symbol of his country's resistance to invasion.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In the kind of attack that has become painfully familiar, at least seven civilians were killed and 13 others injured when Russian forces shelled downtown Lyman, in the area east of Donetsk around 10 a.m., Ukrainian officials said.

Russian forces used cluster munitions in attack, prosecutor general says from Ukraine. The attack came just a day after President Biden said the United States would provide the weapon to Kiev to fight entrenched forces in Moscow despite the scruples of American allies.

At the scene of the strike attack were bloodstains, broken glass and an overturned motorcycle.

The mid-morning assault was a grim reminder of the toll of 500 days of war in Ukraine. Mr. Zelensky paid tribute on Saturday to all those who lost their lives, using Snake Island as a backdrop to highlight Ukrainian resolve.

At the start of the war in February 2022, an audio recording captured Ukrainian border guards on the island, 20 miles off Odessa. Defying a Russian warship's order to surrender, the guards responded with a memorable volley of profanity that has become a rallying cry immortalized on stamps and billboards across the country.

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In a video posted on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky paid tribute to the "heroes" who fought for Snake Island, calling the battle that ultimately forced Russian troops to withdraw last June "one of the biggest" since the full-scale invasion.

"Although this is a small piece of land in the middle of our Black Sea, this is great proof that Ukraine will regain every bit of its territory,” Zelensky said in the video, which showed him climbing a boat and crossing a rocky landscape to lay blue flowers and yellow in front of a memorial.

ImageUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Snake Island in the Black Sea, in an undated photo released by state media on Saturday.Credit...Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

The shooting date of the video does was not immediately clear: the Ukrainian leader was still in Turkey on Saturday morning, a trip described in part as an effort to mobilize support for his country's bid for NATO membership.

< p class= "css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But in keeping with the theme of the challenge, he left Istanbul on Saturday with something of immense personal and symbolic value to many Ukrainians. Mr Zelensky said on Twitter that five commanders of the country's Azov regiment, which defended the port city of Mariupol last year during an 80-day Russian siege, would return home with him.

The fierce resistance of the fighters...