Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office has said that he has postponed all his upcoming foreign visits amid a new Russian offensive.

Mr Zelenskiy cancelled all foreign visits “that were planned for the coming days”, his office said on Wednesday on Telegram.

The head of state instructed his team to reschedule the visits.

“We are grateful to our partners for understanding,” the announcement said.

Mr Zelenskiy had been expected to visit Spain, and perhaps Portugal, later this week.

Russian troops are pressing a fresh offensive in north-east Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.

It began last week, marking the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invasion began and forcing almost 8,000 local people to flee their homes.

Together with Moscow’s weeks-long effort to build on its recent gains in the eastern Donetsk region, the more than two-year war has entered a critical stage for Ukraine’s depleted army.

Against that grim backdrop, with thousands of Ukrainian troops locked in fierce battles in towns and villages, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken pledged unceasing US support for the country, during and beyond the war.

He also tried to lift spirits in Kyiv, performing on guitar with a band at a city bar and eating pizza at a veteran-run restaurant.

Russia is opening new fronts in order to stretch Ukraine’s army, which is short of ammunition and manpower, along the about 620-mile front line, hoping defences will crumble.

Russian artillery and sabotage raids have also been menacing Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv and Sumy regions.

Mr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Tuesday that the army has sent reinforcements to the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.

“It is too early to draw conclusions, but the situation is under control,” he said.

The pace of Russia’s advance in the Kharkiv border region, where it launched an offensive late last week and has made significant progress, has slowed, the Institute for the Study of War said late on Tuesday.

The Washington-based think tank said Moscow’s main aim there is to create a “buffer zone” that will prevent Ukrainian cross-border strikes on Russia’s Belgorod region.