Richard Branson meets Zelensky as Russian forces pound Bakhmut with missiles 

Richard Branson met with Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday as Russian troops bombarded Ukraine with missiles.

The founder of Virgin Galactic met the president of Ukraine in Kiev, where he became the new ambassador for UNITED24, Ukraine’s official fundraising platform.

Zelensky thanked British billionaire Branson for his support and said, “It is very important that famous and influential personalities continue to join this platform. One of our core tasks is to keep the world focused on Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has been going on for over a year.”

Branson told Zelensky that on his way to Kiev he met some soldiers in Lviv, including one “who lost both arms and a leg and was still smiling and positive and wanted to get back to the front line.”

Branson attends a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kiev, Ukraine on April 10, 2023

Previously, Branson was in Bucha, outside Kiev, with American philanthropist Howard Buffett, where he supported the construction of a kitchen that could help feed children in educational institutions.

The kitchen will help communities in Bucha, Borodianka and Nemishaevo.

Branson attended a kitchen event with Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk, Deputy Chief of the Presidential Office Oleksiy Kuleba and Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska.

Mayor Fedoruk said on Telegram on Monday: “More than 10,000 hot meals will be cooked here every day for our children. Another similar plant will be built in the Kharkiv region with Mr. Howard’s support.”

Branson also met with Zelensky in June, a few months after the invasion began on February 24.

Branson wrote in a letter on his website that he spoke with Zelensky, Secretary of State Dmytro Kubela and a group of business leaders from Ukraine, while also stopping at some of the sites the Russians had attacked since the outbreak of war.

A Ukrainian soldier rides a BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle as the Russian assault on Ukraine continues near the frontline city of Bakhmut, on April 6

A group of Ukrainian soldiers ride on top of an APC on the frontline in Bakhmut on Saturday, April 8

“My main goal when I went to Kiev was to meet and listen to Ukrainians, to understand their fears and concerns and also to learn what business, in cooperation with civil society and governments, can do to make Ukraine as effectively as possible,” he wrote.

Branson said he had seen Zelensky near the end of his visit for a “face-to-face meeting” with members of the president’s cabinet.

“The contrast to our first conversation, just two days before the invasion, couldn’t be greater,” Branson said. “In the eyes of the world and his own people, the President has emerged as a rare wartime leader who exudes both an unbreakable spirit and a tireless determination to bring this war to a successful conclusion and repel the aggression.”

On Monday, Russian forces launched attacks on frontline cities in eastern Ukraine as Ukrainian officials played down a report that Kiev is changing some plans for a counter-offensive over a leak of classified US documents.

The Russians pounded Ukrainian positions around besieged Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and other towns and villages with airstrikes and artillery fire, Kiev said.

“The enemy switched from Syria to the so-called scorched earth tactic. It destroys buildings and positions with airstrikes and artillery fire,” Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, said of Bakhmut.

The small town on the edge of a stretch of Russian-controlled territory in Donetsk has been the largest battlefield of the war for months, now in its second year.

The head of the Moscow-controlled part of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said Russian troops now control 75 percent of the city.

Moscow’s army also targeted the city of Avdiivka.

“The Russians have made Avdiivka a total ruin,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, regional governor of Donetsk, said of an airstrike on Monday that destroyed a multi-storey building.

“In total, there are still about 1,800 people in Avdiivka, all of whom risk their lives every day.”