Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia “must lose in Ukraine” as Moscow’s full-scale invasion entered its second year on February 24 amid heavy fighting in the east and south, while Ukraine’s Western allies marked the anniversary by announcing more military aid for Kyiv.
“On February 24, millions of us made a choice: not a white flag, but a blue and yellow flag,” Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in a message on social media.
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“Not escape, but resistance. Resistance against the enemy. Resistance and struggle. It was a year of pain, regret, faith and unity. And this is the year of our indomitability,” Zelenskiy said in his message on February 24, adding, “We know that this will be the year of our victory.”
Russia had hoped that its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin called “a special military operation” would end in a matter of days as Moscow’s forces attempted to occupy Kyiv and overthrow Zelenskiy’s pro-Western government.
But the invading army met with obdurate Ukrainian resistance and was forced to withdraw from the capital amid heavy human and equipment losses.
Zelenskiy separately told a conference in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius that only defeat in Ukraine would stave off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s expansionist policies toward Moscow’s former sphere of influence.
“Russia must lose in Ukraine,” Zelenskiy told a conference in Vilnius via videolink later on February 24.
“Russian revanchism must forever forget about Kyiv and Vilnius, about Chisinau and Warsaw, about our brothers in Latvia and Estonia, in Georgia, and every other country that is now threatened.”
Even as Zelenskiy spoke to the Vilnius conference, the specter of Russian expansionism was floated in Moscow by former President Dmitry Medvedev, who used the occasion to threaten with “pushing back” NATO member Poland’s border.
“It is so important to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. To push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland,” said Medvedev, who now is deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council.
The United States marked the anniversary by announcing an additional $2 billion in “security assistance” for Ukraine.
The Pentagon said in a statement on February 24 that the package includes ammunition for HIMARS rocket systems and other weaponry, high-tech drones, mine clearing equipment and funds for training.
Poland, meanwhile, announced that it had delivered its first Leopard tanks to Ukraine as Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki traveled to Kyiv on February 24.
“The prime minister couldn’t be here; he went to Kyiv to bring Leopard tanks which are the first batch delivered to Ukraine,” President Andrzej Duda said in his opening remarks at the meeting in Warsaw.
Canada on February 24 announced more than $32 million in aid for Ukraine that will include $7.5 million for demining efforts and more than $12 million to counter chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.
In Photos: When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it triggered the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II, upending the lives of millions and bringing widespread devastation that continues today.
In Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will support Ukraine “as strongly and as long as necessary.”
President Emmanuel Macron also reaffirmed France’s support for Ukraine.
“People of Ukraine, France stands by your side. To solidarity. To victory. To peace,” Macron tweeted.
In a statement, NATO reaffirmed the 30-member alliance’s “unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity”in the face of Russia’s aggression.
The anniversary came as full-scale war raged in the east, where Moscow’s forces have been throwing immense military and human resources against the Ukrainian forces’ fierce resistance.
Ukrainian forces repelled wave after wave of enemy attacks along the front line over the past 24 hours, the military said.
Russian forces pressed on with fresh offensive actions in and around Bakhmut, the focal point of the battle for the eastern Donetsk region, as well as Kupyansk, Lyman, Avdiyivka, and Shakhtarsk.
“Over the past day, our defenders repelled about 100 enemy attacks in the indicated directions,” the General Staff said.
Moscow’s forces currently control some 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory following a series of Ukrainian counteroffensives, but the war has settled into trench warfare as neither side has managed to make sizeable advances in the east, where fierce artillery exchanges have turned Bakhmut and the town of Vuhledar into ruins.
The British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on February 24 that Russia’s campaign currently appears to seek to wear down the Ukrainian military, rather than grab more territory.
“The Russian leadership is likely pursuing a long-term operation where they bank that Russia’s advantages in population and resources will eventually exhaust Ukraine,” the British intelligence report said.
On the eve of the anniversary, the U.N. General Assembly voted to demand a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace and again called for Russia to stop fighting and withdrawal its forces from Ukraine.