For the first time since Russia's war of aggression began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited the front line in southern Ukraine.

An official video shows Zelenskyy inspecting a badly damaged regional administration building in Mykolaiv on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has announced that he intends to campaign for clear accession prospects for Ukraine at the EU summit next week.

Mykolaiv is an important military target for Russian troops.

The capture of the city would open the way to Odessa, the main Ukrainian port city.

Mykolayiv is also not far from the Cherson region, which is completely under the control of Russian troops.

Fighting continues in eastern Ukrainian Donbass

According to the Presidential Office, Zelenskyi visited other Ukrainian positions in the region and in the neighboring Odessa region.

"I want to thank you on behalf of the Ukrainian people, on behalf of our state, for your great work, for your heroic service," he told soldiers.

Meanwhile, fighting in eastern Ukraine's Donbass continued unabated.

Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk reported five civilians dead and 12 wounded by Ukrainian artillery fire.

Donetsk is the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic.

"Since the morning, massive enemy bombardments have been aimed at the capital of the People's Republic," the separatist military said.

More than 200 artillery shells fell on Saturday.

Russian news agencies reported that a cinema and a café in the city center were hit.

According to Ukrainian sources, the battle for the strategically important city of Sievjerodonetsk is now increasingly being fought in the surrounding villages.

"Our defenders are fighting the Russians in all directions," said Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Hajday.

"Extremely alarming" humanitarian situation

According to him, the city of Sievjerodonetsk is still not under full Russian control.

Meanwhile, for the people in neighboring Lyssychansk, the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous: since the Russian troops are unable to advance, "they simply bombard the city from the air," Hajdaj explained.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said on Friday that Sieverodonetsk had little access to clean water, food and electricity.

The humanitarian situation in many parts of eastern Ukraine is "extremely alarming".

Chancellor Scholz praised the Ukrainians as fighters "for freedom and democracy".

In addition to solidarity, it is now time to offer Ukraine a clear European perspective.

He will therefore try to reach unanimity in next Thursday's European Council on Ukraine's status as a candidate country.

On Friday, the EU Commission officially spoke out in favor of granting this status to Ukraine.

The 27 EU countries now have to approve this unanimously.

“There should be no hasty accessions”

Zelenskyj welcomed the EU Commission's green light as a "historic success for everyone who works for our state".

In his evening video address on Friday, he emphasized: "Ukraine deserves this good news".

Should Ukraine be granted candidate status, this would be the first step in a long process that also offers no guarantees of success.

Turkey, for example, has had candidate status since 1999.

The Balkan country North Macedonia has been a candidate for accession since 2005, and Skopje is still waiting for concrete negotiations.

"There must be no hasty accession," emphasized MEP Katharina Barley (SPD).

"Anyone who is once in the EU cannot be excluded." Kyiv must therefore "completely" meet all accession criteria.

However, they expressly welcome the granting of candidate status.