24.02.2023
Ukraine’s president sent a message on the eve of the anniversary of the Russian invasion “We have passed many tests and we will succeed,” he said. In addition, several world powers ratified their support for him.
“¡Ukraine will win!”, proclaimed this Thursday (02.23.2023) the president Volodymyr Zelenskyon the eve of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion and shortly before the UN General Assembly voted to pass a resolution “demanding” a withdrawal of Russian troops from the former Soviet republic.
“We have not broken. We have overcome many tests and we will triumph. We will call to account all those who brought this evil and this war to our land. All the terror, all the murders, all the torture and all the looting,” the president stressed in a message posted on social media.
The Ukrainian resistance had strong military and financial backing from Western powers, which on Thursday urged the IMF to launch a new aid package before the end of March.
The G7 (USA, Canada, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Japan) considered that the sanctions imposed on Moscow “have significantly undermined Russia’s capabilities in its illegal war.”
The White House has already announced that “the United States will implement wide-ranging sanctions once morest key sectors that generate income” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president promised for his part to increase military industrial production and announced the forthcoming entry into service of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“We will pay priority attention to strengthening our defense capabilities,” Putin added in a video released on the occasion of Defenders of the Fatherland Day.
UN demands withdrawal of Russian forces
Russia’s expectations of a quick victory were dashed and its troops suffered heavy setbacks in eastern Ukraine late last year.
They are currently trying to regain the initiative by conquering the city of Bakhmut, which has been putting up fierce resistance for weeks.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that the defense of her country, which was also a Soviet republic and is now part of NATO, “begins in Ukraine.”
If Russia achieves its goals in Ukraine, that “will be an incentive to do the same elsewhere,” he warned.
The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, affirmed in a surprise visit to kyiv his government’s determination to remain “by the side of Ukraine and its people until peace returns to Europe.”
He also announced the intention to send in the next few months tenLeopard heavy tanks to Ukrainefour more than initially announced.
The UN General Assembly ruled on Thursday on a resolution backed by Ukraine and its allies calling for a “just and lasting” peace and “demands” the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces and a “cessation of hostilities”.
mg (afp, Archyde.com)
