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In Brief
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has not broken Ukraine.
- The video address came on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has failed to break Ukraine, according to its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke out on Tuesday as the Kremlin entered the fifth year of its invasion. Russia continues to wage what has become Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War II, determined to achieve its objectives.
When Moscow launched its invasion on February 24, 2022, its initial aim was to capture Kyiv within days.
Now, four years later, the war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, displaced millions, left much of eastern Ukraine in ruins, and seen US-led peace negotiations stall over territorial disputes. Despite these costs, Russia acknowledges that its ambitions in Ukraine remain unfulfilled.
“The military operation persists because our goals have not been completely realized,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated to the press.
On the other hand, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy expressed his nation’s determination to pursue peace by all means necessary. In a video message, he highlighted Ukrainians’ acts of resistance against Russian forces during the early days of the invasion.
But any settlement must not “betray” the price paid by Ukrainians throughout the conflict, he said.
“Putin has not achieved his goals. He did not break the Ukrainians. He did not win this war. We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to achieve peace — and to ensure there is justice,” Zelenskyy said.
“We want peace. Strong, dignified, and lasting peace,” he said, but any deal must be “accepted by Ukrainians”.
“Everything Ukraine has gone through. It must not be surrendered, forgotten, or betrayed,” he added.
Several European leaders including Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the anniversary.
In an address to the EU parliament and speaking alongside visiting EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, Zelenskyy urged Brussels to accelerate Ukraine’s admission to the bloc, or face “decades” of Russian attempts to disrupt the process.
Speaking in Moscow to agents of his FSB security service, Putin said Ukraine has “not managed to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield” and was upping its behind-the-lines sabotage attacks.
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