“In Kyiv, a car collided with the car of the President of Ukraine and escort vehicles,” Serhiy Nykyforov, Zelenskyy’s spokesman, said in a statement on Facebook early Thursday. “Doctors accompanying the head of state provided the car driver with emergency aid and transferred him to an ambulance. The president was examined by a doctor. No serious injuries were found,” Nykyforov said, adding that “police officers will find out all the circumstances of the accident.” The incident came after Zelensky on Wednesday visited the strategic town of Izyum, which was liberated by his army last week in a lightning counter-offensive that saw Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces flee the battlefield in Ukraine’s northeastern regions. In his daily video address to the nation, which was delayed by hours because of the accident, Zelensky said: “I returned from the Kharkiv region — from our Kharkiv region … Today, almost the entire region is occupied.” Zelensky added that “the Ukrainians have once again managed to do what many thought was impossible” by liberating more than 4,000 square kilometers of territory in the country’s northeast against the Russian army. Pointing to more alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine’s eastern regions, Zelensky said: “The world must see these devastations, it must feel the pain that Russia has brought to Ukrainians.” The president added: “What people saw in Bukha, what we saw in the occupied area of Chernihiv region, in Sumy region, and what we and you are seeing now in Kharkiv region are evidence of genocide against Ukrainians. Proof that Russia can bring nothing but genocide.”
