In short
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia has not broken Ukraine.
- The video address took place on the fourth anniversary of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has not broken Ukraine, leader Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, as the Kremlin marked the start of the fifth year of its invasion by vowing to keep fighting Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II until it achieves its goals.
Moscow had hoped to take Kiev within days when it launched its invasion on February 24, 2022.
Four years later – with hundreds of thousands dead, millions forced to flee, much of eastern Ukraine destroyed and US-led peace talks over territory still stalled – the country admitted it has not achieved everything it wants in the country.
“The objectives have not yet been fully achieved and that is why the military operation continues,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Ukraine, meanwhile, was ready to do “everything” it could to secure peace, Zelenskyy said in a video address that included footage of Ukrainians carrying out acts of resistance against Russian soldiers in the early days of the conflict.
But any settlement should not “betray” the price Ukrainians paid during the conflict, he said.
“Putin did not achieve his goals. He did not break Ukrainians. He did not win this war. We preserved Ukraine and we will do everything we can to achieve peace – and to ensure that there is justice,” Zelenskiy said.
“We want peace. Strong, dignified and lasting peace,” he said, but any deal must be “accepted by Ukrainians.”
“Everything that 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 Kiev on Tuesday to celebrate the anniversary.
Speaking to the EU parliament and speaking to visiting EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, Zelenskyy urged Brussels to speed up Ukraine’s admission to the bloc or face “decades” of Russian attempts to disrupt the process.
In a speech in Moscow to officers of his FSB security service, Putin said Ukraine “has failed to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield” and is stepping up its sabotage attacks behind the lines.
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