Western leaders rally around Kyiv to mark 2 years since Russia’s full-scale invasion
KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Western leaders to Kyiv on Saturday to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, as Ukrainian forces run low on ammunition and weaponry and foreign aid hangs in the balance.
Allies from the EU and the Group of Seven wealthy democracies rallied around Kyiv to express solidarity. Zelensky joined a virtual G7 meeting Saturday and four world leaders traveled to Ukraine’s war-weary capital.
Zelensky posted a video from the Hostomel airfield together with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“Two years ago, here, we met enemy landing forces with fire; two years later, we meet our friends and our partners here,” Zelensky said at the airport just outside of Kyiv, which Russian paratroopers unsuccessfully tried to seize in the first days of the war.
In a Ukrainian village, a woman wants only one thing: to find her husband, who disappeared shortly after Russia’s war on Ukraine started two years ago.
The Western leaders arrived in Kyiv shortly after a Russian drone attack struck a residential building in the southern city of Odesa, killing at least one person. Three women also sustained severe burns in the attack Friday evening, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper wrote on his social media account. Rescue services combed through the rubble looking for survivors.
A somber mood hangs over Ukraine as the war against Russia enters its third year and Kyiv’s troops face mounting challenges on the frontline amid dwindling supplies and personnel issues. Its troops recently withdrew from the strategic eastern city of Avdiivka, handing Moscow one of its biggest victories. And Russia still controls roughly a quarter of the country after Ukraine failed to make any major breakthroughs with its summertime counteroffensive.
Late Saturday, Zelensky’s office announced the signing of 10-year bilateral security deals with Canada and Italy, with Ottawa committing to send Kyiv close to $2.2 billion in military and economic aid this year while Rome promised much-needed long-range weapons.
In a joint news conference, Meloni hailed the agreement with Kyiv and said, “We will continue to support Ukraine in what I have always deemed the just right of its people to defend itself.”
Meloni also chaired a G7 videoconference from Kyiv that produced a joint statement Saturday reaffirming world leaders’ commitment to “supporting a comprehensive, just and lasting peace,” tightening sanctions on Russia and sending Ukraine military and economic aid for “as long as it takes.”
Von der Leyen vowed during the joint news conference that the bloc will stand with Ukraine “financially, economically, militarily, and most of all, morally, until [the] country is finally free.”
Zelensky highlighted the urgency of timely arms deliveries, while pledging that Kyiv would not use weapons from allied countries to strike Russian territory. His words reflected an increasingly tense battlefield situation in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv’s troops are trying to hold back Russian advances despite a escalating ammunition shortage.
On the front line in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian soldiers pleaded for ammunition.
“When the enemy comes in, a lot of our guys die. ... We are sitting here with nothing,” said Volodymyr, 27, a senior officer in an artillery battery.
“In order to protect our infantry ... we need a high number of shells, which we do not have now,” said Oleksandr, 45, a commander of an artillery unit. The two officers only gave their first names, citing security concerns.
Dwindling ammunition threatens Ukraine’s hold on the front line under a withering assault by Russian artillery.
About 100 people gathered outside St. Sophia’s Cathedral in central Kyiv on Saturday, calling for the release of Azov Brigade members who were taken captive by Russia after defending the southern city of Mariupol.
Olena Petrivna, the mother of a member who was taken captive by Russian forces questioned why Russia invaded Ukraine, saying before the war people “lived our own lives, not bothering anyone, raising our children.”
The Russians, she said, tried to conquer Ukraine to teach them what to say and what language to speak but, she added, “We don’t need them. We have one destiny — victory. We must win.”
A Russian American woman from Los Angeles is held in Russia on treason charges, apparently over a donation to a charity for Ukraine.
The war has also come to Russia. Drones hit a steel plant in the Lipetsk region in southern Russia on Saturday, causing a large fire, regional Gov. Igor Artamonov said, adding there are no casualties. Independent Russian media said the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant is the largest steel plant in Russia. Videos shared on Russian social media showed several fires burning at the plant, and an explosion could be heard.
Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona said Saturday that about 75,000 Russian men died in 2022 and 2023 fighting in the war.
A joint investigation published by Mediazona and Meduza, another independent Russian news site, indicates that the rate of Russia’s losses in Ukraine is not slowing and that Moscow is losing around 120 men a day. Based on a statistical analysis of the recorded deaths of soldiers compared with a Russian inheritance database, the journalists said about 83,000 soldiers are likely to have died in the two years of fighting.
According to Mediazona and Meduza’s analysis, regular Russian troops sustained the heaviest losses in the first months of the war. But, after prisoners were offered their freedom in exchange for fighting and after President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization, those groups started to sustain more casualties, particularly in the early months of 2023.
Solidarity demonstrations with Ukraine were held across Europe, including in London, Berlin and Stockholm.
In Belgrade, hundreds marched through the city center carrying Ukrainian flags. Though it has condemned the invasion of Ukraine, Serbia has not joined Western sanctions against Russia and maintains friendly relations with Moscow.
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Meanwhile, millions of Ukrainians continue to live in precarious circumstances in the crossfire of battles, and many others face constant struggles under Russian occupation. Most are waiting for a Ukrainian liberation that hasn’t come.
Olena Zelenska, the president’s wife, said Saturday that more than 2 million Ukrainian children have left the country since the war began and that at least 528 have been killed. “The war started by Russia deliberately targets children,” she said.
Britain has pledged an additional 8.5 million pounds ($10.8 million) of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, bolstering efforts to provide medical care, food and basic services to residents as the nation marks the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
About 14.6 million people, or 40% of Ukraine’s population, need assistance, with many left homeless or without adequate access to food, water and electricity, Britain’s Foreign Office said in announcing the aid.
In the U.S. Congress, Republicans have stalled $60 billion in military aid for Kyiv, desperately needed in the short term. The EU recently approved a 50 billion-euro (about $54 billion) aid package for Ukraine meant to support Ukraine’s economy, despite resistance from Hungary.
AP writers Alex Babenko in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kyiv contributed to this report.
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