Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reiterated the need for his country to achieve complete victory, almost a year after Moscow began its invasion.
"Russian terror must lose everywhere and in every way: both on the battlefield and in that not a single ruin remains in our country," he said in his evening video address, shortly after visiting a city in the south of the country. "So that we can rebuild everything and thus prove that freedom is stronger."
Alongside security initiatives, humanitarian activities are also important, he said, referring for example to restoring the Mykolaiv water supply destroyed by Russian troops.
His comments came after his trip to the southern city with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen where they visited a hospital and the seaport.
Frederiksen and Zelensky visited wounded Ukrainian soldiers in a hospital and the Ukrainian president awarded medals to clinic staff during the visit.
The two leaders also visited the seaport in the city, which had a population of about 470,000 before the Russian invasion.
Zelensky's post from the port tour included footage of oil storage tanks destroyed by Russian attacks.
Invading Russian troops reached Mykolaiv in March 2022 before being forced back by stiff Ukrainian resistance. Russian artillery continued extensively shelling the city until Russian troops finally withdrew in November across the Dnipro, or Dnieper River in Kherson, less than 70 kilometres east of Mykolaiv.
Russian forces are currently located about 30 kilometres south of Mykolaiv.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Defence Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen joined Frederiksen on the visit to Mykolaiv, according to photographs by Danish journalists who travelled with the delegation.
Denmark has committed to helping lead efforts to rebuild the city and surrounding area. Zelensky wrote that Denmark has been supporting Mykolaiv "since the first days of the full-scale invasion."
The "Denmark-Mykolaiv Partnership" was launched in June 2022 by Danish businesses and uses the city of Mykolaiv as a blueprint for supporting reconstruction efforts and exploring future business opportunities to bolster the Ukrainian market.
Denmark has also supplied Ukraine with military weapons alongside other Western supporters and is among a number of European countries considering shipping advanced German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov claimed that supplying Ukraine with advanced main battle tanks amounted to a "highly destructive step" that will only escalate the war which Russia began with its invasion almost a year ago.
Ryabkov, speaking in an interview with the state-run Novosti news agency, said peace talks with Kiev or its "puppet masters" in the West would be "pointless" because of the planned tank transfers.
Both Russian and Ukrainian officials have suggested they are open to peace talks, although there is currently little prospect for a settlement as Russia has repeatedly rejected Ukrainian demands to withdraw from Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile fighting in Ukraine continued to rage and one person was killed in missile strikes in a residential building in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.
A further three people were killed in shelling in the southern city of Kherson and six were injured late on Sunday night, according to the regional authorities.
