EU and different Western leaders and dignitaries have been in Kyiv on February 24 to ship a defiant message on the second anniversary of Russia’s launch of its all-out invasion of Ukraine that they intend to proceed supporting Ukraine towards Moscow’s aggression.
The anniversary got here with the Ukrainian navy in want of kit and provides, particularly ammunition, and Moscow seeking to lengthen its latest battlefield achieve within the Donetsk area, the place its forces recaptured the largely destroyed metropolis of Avdiyivka.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy advised his countrymen in a recorded video deal with from a Kyiv-area airport that was a scene of intense combating early within the invasion that two years of bitter combating means ”we’re 730 days nearer to victory.”
”Two years in the past, we met an enemy touchdown drive right here with fireplace,” Zelenskiy mentioned, earlier than including references to the array of international leaders who have been in Ukraine to mark the anniversary. ”Two years later, we meet right here our buddies, our companions.”
He added that it was essential that the battle finish ”on our phrases.”
Zelenskiy later welcomed European Fee President Von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose nation at the moment holds the rotating EU Presidency.
Meloni and Trudeau signed safety agreements with Zelenskiy throughout their go to, and Meloni hosted a videoconference of the Group of Seven (G7) at which Zelenskiy spoke, telling the leaders he’s relying on them to proceed serving to Ukraine.
On her arrival, von der Leyen mentioned alongside a photograph of herself on a prepare platform in Kyiv that she was there to mark the grim anniversary ”and to have a good time the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian folks.”
”Greater than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine,” she mentioned, ”Financially, economically, militarily, morally…[u]ntil the nation is lastly free.”
Earlier than arriving in Ukraine, Trudeau shared his International Minister Melanie Joly’s sentiment through X, previously Twitter, that Canada and its allies have been ”sending a transparent message to [Russia]: Ukraine won’t be defeated within the face of Putin’s unlawful battle.”
Protesters rallied in Berlin, London, Paris, Belgrade, and different European cities as folks gathered to point out assist by waving the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag and demanding that Russian President Vladimir Putin put an finish to the battle.
Phrases of assist poured in from Western leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden praised the willpower of Ukrainians and mentioned ”the unprecedented 50-nation international coalition in assist of Ukraine, led by the US, stays dedicated to offering essential help to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.”
”The American folks and other people all over the world perceive that the stakes of this combat lengthen far past Ukraine,” he mentioned.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans and all Europeans to ”do much more — in order that we are able to defend ourselves successfully.”
Scholz mentioned that Germany was fully fulfilling its NATO goal of two % funding of whole financial output into its navy for the primary time in a long time.
Not too long ago put in Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk cited ”Two years of Ukrainian heroism. Two years of Russian barbarism. Two years of shame of those that stay detached.”
Maia Sandu, the president of Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova, the place considerations are excessive and a long-standing contingent of Russian troops has refused to depart, thanked ”Ukrainians for his or her tireless combat for freedom and for safeguarding peace in Moldova too.”
”In these two years, the free world has proven unprecedented solidarity, but the battle persists; our assist should endure fiercely,” she mentioned on X.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned ”We should renew our willpower…on this grim anniversary. That is the second to point out that tyranny won’t ever triumph and to say as soon as once more that we are going to stand with Ukraine as we speak and tomorrow.”
The anniversary got here at some point after the US and European Union introduced new rounds of tons of of sanctions focusing on Russia and officers accountable for the battle, however with Ukrainian officers desperately pleading with the worldwide neighborhood to keep away from cutoffs in assist or a ”depletion of empathy.”
Ukrainians have battled fiercely since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022, after Putin, angered by Ukraine’s aspiration to affix NATO, tried to solid doubt on Ukrainian nationhood and ultimately mentioned Moscow’s aim was ”denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine.
It was a brand new part in a land seize that had begun eight years earlier in 2014, when Russia covertly invaded after which annexed Crimea from Ukraine and started intensive assist of armed Ukrainian separatists in jap Ukraine.
The United Nations has overwhelmingly voted to again Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty.
WATCH: Present Time correspondents Borys Sachalko, Andriy Kuzakov, and Oleksiy Prodayvod mirror on their wartime experiences along with the cameramen and drivers who kind a essential a part of their reporting groups.
However a large help bundle proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has been blocked primarily by Republicans in Congress.
The European Union managed to cross its personal $54 billion support bundle for Ukraine earlier this month regardless of reluctance from member Hungary and discuss of Ukraine fatigue.
NATO Secretary-Basic Jens Stoltenberg mentioned in a recorded assertion for the anniversary that ”the scenario on the battlefield stays extraordinarily critical” and ”President Putin’s intention to dominate Ukraine has not modified, and there are not any indications that he’s getting ready for peace. However we should not lose coronary heart.”
Earlier this week, Stoltenberg advised RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the alliance was a bonus that neither Russia nor China might match.
On the UN Basic Meeting on February 23, Ukrainian International Minister Dmytro Kuleba mentioned ”Russia’s intention is to destroy Ukraine and they’re fairly outspoken about it,” including that ”The one cause for this battle has been and stays Russia’s denial of Ukraine’s proper to exist and its continued colonial conquest.”
Russian forces final week captured the largely destroyed jap metropolis of Avdiyivka as remaining Ukrainian troops withdrew amid reported ammunition shortages handy Moscow its first important achieve of territory in practically a yr.
The Russian navy mentioned on February 24 that Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu visited troops in occupied Ukraine in a transparent effort to ship a message to Ukraine and its defenders, in addition to to a Russian public subjected to heavy censorship and punishments for anti-war dissenters because the ”particular navy operation” has floor on.
”Right this moment, by way of the ratio of forces, the benefit is on our aspect,” officers quoted Shoigu as telling troops at a Russian command heart.
The Russian navy additional mentioned its troops have been on the offensive after having taken Avdiyivka, within the Donetsk area.
Zelenskiy used an interview on the conservative Fox Information channel this week to induce the U.S. Congress to cross a $60 billion support bundle to assist his nation defend itself, saying it’s cheaper than the implications of a Russian victory.
Zelenskiy echoed warnings amongst Russia’s different neighbors that Putin will push additional into Japanese Europe if he conquers Ukraine.
”Will Ukraine survive with out Congress’s assist? In fact. However not all of us,” Zelenskiy mentioned.
On February 24, senior Zelenskiy aide Mykhaylo Podolyak mentioned Ukraine was auditing its ”out there assets” and mentioned it is unimaginable to foretell when the battle would possibly finish with out a good suggestion of the quantity of weapons and ammunition Kyiv can have at its disposal.
He additionally advised the Ukrainian president’s workplace just isn’t at the moment in favor of peace talks with Russia as it might imply the ”gradual dying of Ukraine.”
Individually, Swiss President Viola Amherd was quoted as telling the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper that Russia was unlikely to take part at first of a senior-level peace convention that impartial Switzerland hopes to host within the subsequent few months.
The remarks adopted Swiss International Minister Ignazio Cassis telling the United Nations that the thought was broached in January and Bern hoped for such a convention ”by this summer time.”
Russia at the moment is assumed to regulate round one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
The Ukrainian navy mentioned it had destroyed a Russian A-50 surveillance plane after a brand new spherical of Russian drone and missile strikes on a number of Ukrainian areas on February 23, which if confirmed would mark the lack of the second A-50 in simply over a month.
The overall appointed not too long ago by Zelenskiy as commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, mentioned on February 24 that he’s ”satisfied that unity is our victory.”
”And it’ll undoubtedly occur,” he mentioned, ”as a result of gentle all the time conquers darkness!”
Noting the two-year mark within the invasion, Ukraine’s Basic Workers asserted that Russia had suffered troop casualties of round 409,000 since February 24, 2022.
Each side classify casualty figures, and RFE/RL can’t verify the accuracy of accounts by both aspect of battlefield developments in areas of heavy combating or of casualty claims.
With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters