Live Update | Ukraine war anniversary in Russia
BRUSSELS – The NATO military alliance is reaffirming its commitment to stand by Ukraine and help defeat Russia on the first anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale offensive.
“We are determined to maintain concerted international pressure on Russia,” ambassadors from the alliance’s 30 countries said in a statement Friday.
“Russia’s efforts to break the resolve of the brave people of Ukraine are failing. A year later, Ukrainians are fighting valiantly for freedom and independence. We stand by them.”
The envoys reiterated their “iron-clad” intention to come to the defense of any member country should Russia consider expanding the war.
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Key Developments:
– Leader of Ukraine Commitment pushes for victory On the anniversary of the war
– China urged Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, peace talks
— Joy in the midst of sorrow: Mute for 1st birthday Ukrainian parents
– Ukraine toll matching an elusive task
– Follow AP’s coverage of the war anniversary in ukraine
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Other Developments:
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s defense chief congratulated the country’s armed forces for repelling an enemy that “terrorized the whole world,” referring to Russia’s failed attempt to launch a full-scale invasion that could take control of Ukraine.
In an address posted on Facebook on Friday, Oleksiy Reznikov said, “Our soldiers and the entire Ukrainian people fought a battle that many in the world thought was hopeless.”
“You rejected the enemy’s army, which terrified the whole world. But it has become powerless against Ukrainians, who are defending their homes and their loved ones, fighting for their land,” he added.
Reznikov said that Kiev will fight until Russia takes back all the territories it occupied or occupied and until the threat from Moscow is eliminated.
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KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s army chief, Valery Zaluzhny, says his country’s resilience against Russian aggression “depends on our people”.
“Common heroes among us. They are people who took up arms to defend their families, their homes and their country from the unwarranted and unjustified aggression of the enemy,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
“They are the people who are beating the occupier at this moment, holding the line, freezing to our cold but dear, motherland, saving the lives of their countrymen, helping the army as best they can,” he wrote.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Five Nordic prime ministers said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has caused unimaginable suffering, death and destruction on our continent since World War II.”
In a joint statement marking the one-year anniversary of the attack, the government leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden said “Russia’s brutal aggression” was “the biggest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades.”
The consequences of the war were “felt far and wide. Economic stability, energy and food security are seriously threatened with serious consequences for least developed countries,” they said.
“Ukraine’s struggle is our struggle,” they said in a statement.
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WASHINGTON – White House national security adviser Jack Sullivan confirmed in a CNN town hall Thursday that Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed Ukraine’s request for warplanes during the US president’s recent visit to Kiev.
Zelensky has asked the US for F-16s, which Biden has refused to provide.
Sullivan emphasized that the administration is focused on providing Ukraine with the weapons it believes it needs most in the current and upcoming stages of the war.
But he suggested that the F-16 request could be reconsidered.
“They’re going to do a significant counteroffensive,” Sullivan noted, referring to the expectation that Ukraine would mount a spring offensive. “From our perspective, the F-16s are not the core capability of that attack. That’s something we’re moving quickly to the front lines now.”
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