It has been one year since Russian forces invaded Ukraine from the north, south, and east in what Russian President Vladimir Putin described as a "special military operation." On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the anniversary of the start of the war with a ceremony in Kyiv, where he honored soldiers and civilians and congratulated Ukrainians for getting through "a year of pain, sorrow, faith, and unity." "We have become one family. There are no more strangers among us. Ukrainians today are all fellows," he said in a televised address, per Reuters. "We withstand all threats, shelling, cluster bombs, cruise missiles, kamikaze drones, blackouts, and cold. We are stronger than that," he said. "We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year!" More:
- "The longest day of our lives." "We survived the first day of the full-scale war. We didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but we clearly understood that for each tomorrow, you need to fight. And we fought,” Zelensky said, per the AP. "It was “the longest day of our lives. The hardest day of our modern history. We woke up early and haven’t fallen asleep since." Memorials and vigils for the tens of thousands of Ukrainians killed in Europe's deadliest war since World War II were held across the country.
- Protests in European capitals. The anniversary was marked by protests in European capitals including Berlin, where activists placed a bombed-out Russian tank in front of the Russian embassy, the BBC reports. In London, four activists were arrested Thursday night after they painted a massive Ukrainian flag on the street in front of the Russian embassy, reports Sky News.
- Pentagon announces new aid. The Pentagon announced a $2 billion long-term security aid package for Ukraine Friday, days after President Biden's surprise visit to Kyiv, the AP reports. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the anniversary is an opportunity for those who believe in freedom "to recommit ourselves to supporting Ukraine’s brave defenders for the long haul."
- Medvedev says border could be pushed back to Poland. While there was no official statement from the Kremlin on the anniversary, Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev predicted a Russian victory and made a call to "push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland," Reuters reports.
- A changed world. The New York Times looks at six ways the war has changed the world, from the worst energy crisis since the 1970s to the strengthening of the NATO alliance.
- The shifting frontline. The Washington Post looks at how the conflict has shifted over the last year, with Russian forces now concentrated along a 600-mile frontline in the east and south. Max Bergmann at the Center for Strategic and International Studies says that while Russia now has an estimated 320,000 troops in Ukraine, "it is doubtful they will be able to conduct complex offensive maneuvers." He says that in a grinding war of attrition, Putin "likely hopes to severely degrade Ukraine’s forces and break their will to continue."
(On Thursday, the United Nations voted 141-7 with 32 abstentions, on a resolution to
tell Russia to get out of Ukraine.)
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