UN marks one year of Ukraine war with 'historic' vote

Just a day after China's top diplomat visited Moscow and pledged a deeper partnership with Russia, Beijing abstained on the vote - the fourth time it has done so on such action since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.

With a round of applause, the resolution was adopted on Thursday with 141 votes in favour and 32 abstentions. Six countries joined Russia to vote no - Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua and Syria.

EU lights up Brussels HQ in Ukrainian colours for invasion anniversary

The European Union lit up its Brussels headquarters in the colours of the Ukrainian flag on Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.

The Ukraine war, the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War Two, has displaced millions, left Ukrainian cities, towns and villages in ruins and disrupted the global economy.

Since the start of the conflict, the European Union has welcomed four million Ukrainian refugees onto its soil and has pledged to spend 67 billion euros in the financial, humanitarian, emergency budget, and military support, the EU says.

In June 2022 the 27 EU leaders granted Ukraine the status of the official candidate to join the club, a bold geopolitical step hailed by Kyiv and the EU itself as a "historic moment."

 

Eiffel Tower shines in blue and yellow on eve of Ukraine war anniversary

Paris lit up the Eiffel Tower in the blue-and-yellow colours of the Ukraine flag on Thursday, as Ukraine's allies around the world prepared to mark one year of the war between Ukraine and Russia.

The illumination marks the first anniversary of the war after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

"In this war, there is an aggressor and an aggressed, and the aggressor is Vladimir Putin's Russia," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a speech before the illumination. "There will be a life after this war because Ukraine will win. I think no one will run out of this fierce desire for freedom, for Europe, for democracy that the Ukrainians are showing."

Ukraine said its forces had repelled Russian assaults along the length of the frontline on Thursday on the eve of the war's anniversary, as President Vladimir Putin, empty-handed after a bloody winter offensive, talked up Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Speaking in Thursday's ceremony, Ukraine's ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, thanked the city of Paris for the gesture.

"I also wish that this light will be seen from the Kremlin so that they understand that civilisation exists and that friendship, the only truth, exists, and so that they see that no one is scared of them.," Omelchenko said.

Londoners hold vigil on the eve of the first anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine

Crowds gathered at London’s Trafalgar Square on Thursday on the eve of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion and rally in solidarity with Ukraine.

The protesters, some carrying Ukrainian flags and unfurled a huge banner.

18-year-old Olena Iliuk fled to London just after the invasion. Wrapped in a Ukrainian flag she said she wanted her voice and those of Ukrainians heard.

"Tomorrow is the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Russia into my country, this is why I thought I just can't stay home and tomorrow I will also go to the embassy of the Russian Federation to say that, to protest because it is necessary for Ukrainians to be heard," said Iliuk.

The last weeks have seen Russia mount infantry assaults across the frozen ground in battles described by both sides as the bloodiest of the war.

Western officials said they believed Russia had planned an offensive to capture new territory ahead of the anniversary, using hundreds of thousands of reservists conscripted in recent months to give Putin a victory to announce.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and troops on both sides are believed to have died in the past year. Russian artillery has destroyed Ukrainian cities and set millions of refugees to flight.

With no major battlefield victories to report in time for the anniversary, Russian President Vladimir Putin has instead turned to nuclear rhetoric, announcing in a major speech on Tuesday that Russia would suspend participation in the New START arms control treaty.

Thousands of teddies in front of EU to condemn deportation of Ukrainian children

Campaign group Avaaz installed hundreds of soft toys outside the European institutions on Thursday to protest Russia's alleged deportation of Ukrainian children and to call the EU and the US for action.

The action comes a week after a US-backed report said that Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in sites in Russian-held Crimea and Russia whose primary purpose appears to be political re-education.

According to the report published by Yale University, the children included those with parents or clear familial guardianship, those Russia deemed orphans, others who were in the care of Ukrainian state institutions before the invasion and those whose custody was unclear or uncertain due to the war.

Moscow has pushed back against previous claims that it had forcibly moved Ukrainians and said Russia accepts children who were forced to flee Ukraine.

The stunt took place a day before the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

G7 raises Ukraine support to $39 bln for 2023, urges IMF programme by March

The Group of Seven (G7) nations on Thursday raised economic support to Ukraine to $39 billion for this year and urged an IMF programme for the country by the end of March, according to the bloc's current president Japan.

Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki also told reporters the G7 needs to assess the effectiveness of current sanctions on Russia before deciding on further action.

The decision came after a meeting of the bloc's finance ministers and central bank governors on the eve of the war's first anniversary. The conflict continues to rage despite sanctions by western nations meant to cripple Russia's financing of its "special military operation."

Ukraine is hoping to clinch a $15 billion programme with the International Monetary Fund that will cover immediate financial assistance and support for structural reforms to underpin efforts at post-conflict rebuilding.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said G7 nations believe the global economy is more resilient than expected, but inflation is still elevated.

The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States. The bloc's financial leaders have gathered in India's Bengaluru ahead of a meeting of finance chiefs of the Group of 20 (G20) nations.

Stoltenberg says "cycle of Russian aggression" must end with war in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine must bring an end to "a cycle of Russian aggression" that goes back much further than the invasion Moscow launched a year ago, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

In an interview with Reuters on the eve of the first anniversary of Moscow's attack, Stoltenberg said the invasion was part of a pattern that included Russian military action in Georgia in 2008 and Donbas and Crimea in Ukraine in 2014.

"We don't know when the war will end. But what we do know is that when the war ends, we need to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself," Stoltenberg said.

"We need to ensure that we break the cycle of Russian aggression. We need to prevent Russia from chipping away at European security," he told Reuters at Nato's glass-walled headquarters on the outskirts of Brussels.

He said this meant ensuring that "Ukraine has the military capabilities, the strength to deter further aggression."

Beyond providing Ukraine with munitions to help repel Russia's invasion, Nato allies have also begun talking to Kyiv about a longer-term partnership, Stoltenberg said.

This included helping Kyiv to modernize its defence and security institutions and to move from Soviet-era equipment, doctrines and standards to their Nato equivalents, he said.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops over its border into Ukraine last year in what it called a "special military operation" saying it was countering threats to its own security.

It has regularly disputed assertions by the West, Kyiv and Tbilisi about its military actions, saying it intervened in Georgia to protect people in disputed regions there.

It denied backing separatists in Ukraine's Donbas region in 2014 and said its annexation of Crimea was backed by a referendum, which Kyiv and the West say violated Ukraine’s constitution and international law.

Recalling the day President Vladimir Putin sent Russian forces into Ukraine last year, Stoltenberg said the huge significance of the moment was immediately clear.

"We all realised that day that there was a Europe, there was a world, before and a world after February 24," he said.

Stoltenberg also said the alliance had seen signs China was considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing against taking any such step.

That came days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China of consequences if it provided material support to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We haven't seen any supplies of lethal aid from China to Russia, but we have seen signs that they are considering and may be planning for that," Stoltenberg said.

"That's the reason why the United States and other allies have been very clear, warning against that. And China should of course not support Russia's illegal war," he added.

There was no immediate comment from China, but its Foreign Ministry said earlier on Thursday any potential intelligence on arms transfer by China to Russia that the United States plans to release was just speculation.

The Nato Secretary-General said he saw progress in stalled talks with Turkey on Sweden's membership bid and aimed to have both Sweden and Finland join the alliance by the time of its July summit.

Stoltenberg said he and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had agreed that Turkey, Finland and Sweden would meet at Nato headquarters mid-March "to address the challenges we face when it comes to Turkish ratification of the Swedish accession protocol".

Zelenskiy: Military situation in Ukraine's south quite dangerous in places

The military situation in Ukraine's south is quite dangerous in some places while conditions in the east are very difficult, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address on Thursday.

Zelenskiy said pro-Moscow forces had again shelled the southern city of Kherson, this time cutting off the heat for 40,000 people.

"As for the south - in some places, the situation is quite dangerous but our troops have the means to respond to the occupiers," he said, summarising events on the various fronts.

"In the east - it's very difficult, painful. But we are doing everything to withstand it," he said, in reference to repeated attacks by Russian forces seeking to capture the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Zelenskiy said repair work in Kherson - which is being shelled on a daily basis - would continue until heat was restored.

Reuters