KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia "must lose in Ukraine" as Moscow's full-scale invasion entered its second year on February 24 amid heavy fighting in the east and south, while Ukraine's Western allies marked the anniversary by announcing more military aid for Kyiv.
"On February 24, millions of us made a choice: not a white flag, but a blue-and-yellow flag," Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in a message on social media.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
"Not escape, but resistance. Resistance against the enemy. Resistance and struggle. It was a year of pain, regret, faith and unity. And this is the year of our indomitability," Zelenskiy said in his message on February 24, adding, "We know that this will be the year of our victory."
Russia had hoped that its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin called "a special military operation" would end in a matter of days as Moscow's forces attempted to occupy Kyiv and overthrow Zelenskiy's pro-Western government.
But the invading army met with obdurate Ukrainian resistance and was forced to withdraw from the capital amid heavy human and equipment losses.
Zelenskiy separately told a conference in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius that only defeat in Ukraine would stave off Russian President Vladimir Putin's expansionist policies toward Moscow's former sphere of influence.
"Russia must lose in Ukraine," Zelenskiy told a conference in Vilnius via video link later on February 24. "Russian revanchism must forever forget about Kyiv and Vilnius, about Chisinau and Warsaw, about our brothers in Latvia and Estonia, in Georgia, and every other country that is now threatened."
Zelenskiy participated later on February 24 in a ceremony in Kyiv's St. Sophia Square, awarding medals to soldiers and the mother of one killed.
"We have become one family.... Ukrainians have sheltered Ukrainians, opened their homes and hearts to those who were forced to flee the war," he said in a televised address.
He took part later in a news conference in which he vowed to do everything to defeat Russia this year.
"If partners respect all their promises and deadlines, victory will inevitably await us," Zelensky said, referring to military aid that Ukraine's Western partners have said they will deliver.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Twitter that, a year after the start of the invasion, Ukraine stands and the global coalition in support of Ukraine is stronger than ever with the G7 as its anchor.
Even as Zelenskiy spoke to the Vilnius conference, the specter of Russian expansionism was floated in Moscow by former President Dmitry Medvedev, who used the occasion to threaten with "pushing back" NATO member Poland's border.
"It is so important to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. To push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland," said Medvedev, who now is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council.
On the streets of Kyiv, people's feelings after one year of war were fluctuating between weariness and hope, despair and determination.
"I thought things would get better faster," Lesya Derska, a 24-year-old copywriter told RFE/RL. "There is no stability.... We should start rebuilding the country and the economy quicker. But after a year, I feel stronger because I understand one can endure a lot."
For 30-year-old Maksym Fadeyev, the war meant he lost his food delivery job. But he enrolled as a voluntary cook to feed the needy.
"I remember people coming to Kyiv from the grey (conflict) zone who did not eat for three days," he told RFE/RL. The world's support, he said, "did not prevent thousands of us from dying every month."
"I cannot do anything to end the war," Maksym said. "The war will last for much longer."
But 49-year-old Serhiy Slobodyan radiated more optimism. He enrolled as a soldier on the second day of the invasion and has fought ever since.
"I believe the war will end in the summer," Serhiy told RFE/RL during a two-day home leave in Kyiv. "We will kick Russians out if we have more ammunition and more weapons."
WATCH: Ceremonies were held on February 24 in different cities in Ukraine and across the world on the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale aggression against its neighbor, Ukraine.
The United States marked the anniversary by announcing an additional $2 billion in "security assistance" for Ukraine.
The Pentagon said in a statement on February 24 that the package includes ammunition for HIMARS rocket systems and other weaponry, high-tech drones, mine clearing equipment and funds for training.
Poland, meanwhile, announced that it had delivered its first Leopard tanks to Ukraine as Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki traveled to Kyiv on February 24.
"The prime minister couldn't be here; he went to Kyiv to bring Leopard tanks, which are the first batch delivered to Ukraine," President Andrzej Duda said in his opening remarks at the meeting in Warsaw.
Canada on February 24 announced more than $32 million in aid for Ukraine that will include $7.5 million for demining efforts and more than $12 million to counter chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.
In Photos: When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it triggered the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II, upending the lives of millions and bringing widespread devastation that continues today.
In Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will support Ukraine "as strongly and as long as necessary."
President Emmanuel Macron also reaffirmed France's support for Ukraine.
"People of Ukraine, France stands by your side. To solidarity. To victory. To peace," Macron tweeted.
In a statement, NATO reaffirmed the 30-member alliance's "unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity"in the face of Russia's aggression.
Meanwhile, activists parked a bombed-out Russian tank in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin as protests were held across Europe to mark the anniversary. The Eiffel Tower, the National Theatre in Warsaw, and the Colosseum in Rome were among the buildings lit up in the blue-yellow colors of Ukraine's flag.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg observed a moment of silence to honor the fallen in Tallinn. A similar observance took place in front of Downing Street in London, and several European leaders published messages condemning the war.
The anniversary came as full-scale war raged in the east, where Moscow's forces have been throwing immense military and human resources against the Ukrainian forces' fierce resistance.
Ukrainian forces repelled wave after wave of enemy attacks along the front line over the past 24 hours, the military said.
Russian forces pressed on with fresh offensive actions in and around Bakhmut, the focal point of the battle for the eastern Donetsk region, as well as Kupyansk, Lyman, Avdiyivka, and Shakhtarsk.
"Over the past day, our defenders repelled about 100 enemy attacks in the indicated directions," the General Staff said.
Moscow's forces currently control some 20 percent of Ukraine's territory following a series of Ukrainian counteroffensives, but the war has settled into trench warfare as neither side has managed to make sizable advances in the east, where fierce artillery exchanges have turned Bakhmut and the town of Vuhledar into ruins.
The British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on February 24 that Russia's campaign currently appears to seek to wear down the Ukrainian military, rather than grab more territory.
"The Russian leadership is likely pursuing a long-term operation where they bank that Russia's advantages in population and resources will eventually exhaust Ukraine," the British intelligence report said.
On the eve of the anniversary, the U.N. General Assembly voted to demand a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace and again called for Russia to stop fighting and withdrawal its forces from Ukraine.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
RYU_INU on February 24th, 2023 at 23:15 UTC »
This is astonishingly dangerous. I work with a person living in Minsk. He is careful not to wear blue and yellow or say anything in support of Ukraine in public for fear of being arrested. So, hooray and safety to whoever raised this flag.
Thatsidechara_ter on February 24th, 2023 at 19:59 UTC »
And this is why Lukashenko has pulled every trick in the book to not be pulled into the war.
Edit: I see a lot of people speculating on this so I figure ill make it clear: Belarus's military has every single problem the Russian army except worse, and then add onto that they don't have inexhaustible manpower reserves. They have a shoestring military budget as well as a population that isn't brainwashed like the Russians are; Minsk might very well see a civilian uprising if they entered the war, if they aren't forced to back out immediately from catastrophic casualties suffered in the initial attack across the border first.
I would personally liken their military to a slightly larger and more demoralized version of the DPR and LPR militaries, except also with a bunch of warehouses full of broken BMPs.
Traspen on February 24th, 2023 at 17:31 UTC »
Evidently "brutal crackdowns" aren't having the desired effect.
Soooo... The beatings will continue until morale improves!