Ukraine that ‘didn’t crack’ is about to enter its second year of war against the Russian occupation forces, fearing new attacks on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion of the country by the army of Vladimir Putin.
“We did not crack, we overcame many trials and we will triumph. We will hold accountable all those who have brought this evil, this war on our land,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.
In Moscow, President Putin went to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Defender of the Fatherland Day, before going to talk under blue skies and -10°C with soldiers in Red Square.
“It is the sacred obligation of the state to take care of those who defend the country,” he said.
“The (Russian) occupiers are preparing” provocations on a large scale, most likely, said Ukrainian intelligence, which detected a movement of convoys carrying military equipment near the border with the Chernihiv region.
“They are planning a minor missile strike on the 23rd and 24th [février], they have two dates. Believe me, we have already survived this more than 20 times,” Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, told Ukrainiska Pravda.
“Worst year”
Already tested by “the worst year of their lives, Ukrainians who have been plunged in particular into darkness and cold after the destruction by Russian bombing of much of the country’s energy infrastructure, hope that “victory is in front of them ” . »
At the end of February, the power shortages are largely overcome but the war started on February 24, 2022 by Moscow remains in people’s minds.
“I’m sure victory is ahead of us, but we don’t know how long we’ll have to wait and how many more casualties there will be before something like this happens. This is the only thing that worries all Ukrainians now,” says Diana Chestakova, 23, employed in a publishing house.
A Swiss artist projected images to the glory of Ukraine on Wednesday evening on public buildings in Lviv: a field of sunflowers, doves of peace, the Ukrainian emblem and the number 365. A spectacle dominated by the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez traveled to Ukraine on Thursday to show his support, following US President Joe Biden on Monday and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday.
“I am back in kyiv, a year after the start of the war. We will stand with Ukraine and its people until peace returns to Europe,” he tweeted. The day before, Madrid had announced the donation of six Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine.
Finland has announced the dispatch of three Leopard 2 tanks as part of international cooperation to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons.
In New York, the UN General Assembly is due to adopt a resolution on Thursday calling for a “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine, a text that Kiev and its allies hope to see the broadest support against Moscow.
For their part, the G7 finance ministers will try to agree on Thursday in Bangalore, India, on a new package of economic sanctions against Moscow, before a meeting on Friday and Saturday of the G20 to discuss measures to deal with the economic effects of war and possible debt relief for the poorest countries. India, the host country of the G20, did not condemn the invasion.
“Cold War Time”
President Putin vowed this week to “methodically” continue his offensive in Ukraine, in a speech with anti-Western rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War.
Its ambassador to the UN Vassili Nebenzia also attacked Westerners on Wednesday at the General Assembly. “In their desire to inflict a defeat on Russia in any way possible, it is not only Ukraine that they can sacrifice, they are ready to plunge the whole world into the abyss of war,” he said. he accused.
For his part, the head of the Italian navy warned Thursday that the Russian navy has greatly increased its presence in the Mediterranean since the start of the war in Ukraine and has an “aggressive attitude”, leading to “a risk of incident”.
“Such a level” of Russian ship presence “has not been seen even in Cold War times,” he stressed.
Wagner group says it will receive ammunition
On the military level, the boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, announced Thursday the sending of ammunition to his men in Ukraine.
“Today at 6 a.m., they announced that the shipment of ammunition was starting,” said Mr. Prigojine in a message sent by his press service on social networks, saying that “the main papers have been signed”.
This announcement comes the day after an unprecedented appeal to the army to provide ammunition to its men, illustrating the extent of the tensions between the mercenaries and the general staff who are fighting side by side in Ukraine.
“There are shells. But it is necessary that politicos, bastards, garbage affix their signature so that they are delivered, was carried away Mr. Prigojine.
On Tuesday, he even accused Chief of Staff Valery Guerassimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of “treason”, believing that the objective of the military high command was to “destroy” Wagner on the battlefield, in the when his men are falling “by the hundreds”, he says, every day in the Donbass.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks, illustrating the divisions within Russian forces on the eve of the anniversary of the launch of the Russian offensive, now bogged down in the face of resistance from Ukrainians reinforced by Western military aid.
Thursday, Evguéni Prigojine wanted to thank “those who, including in high circles, exerted pressure and made decisions”.
Sending the munitions will “save hundreds, if not thousands of lives of guys defending their homeland”, he said. “You gave them the opportunity to continue living,” he said.