Zelenskyi addresses the nation on the fourth anniversary of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion. Ukraine\u2019s Defense Ministry unveils a plan to force Russia into peace. A Ukrainian counterattack in the southeast demonstrates that Kyiv\u2019s forces have got plenty of fight left, WSJ says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a video address on the fourth anniversary of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi recalled the first days of the war, remembered the victims, hailed the strength of Ukrainian troops and the Ukrainian people as a whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday marks exactly four years since Putin started his three-day push to take Kyiv. And that, in fact, says a great deal about our resistance, about how Ukraine has fought all this time. Behind those words stand millions of our people. Behind those words stand immense courage, incredibly hard work, endurance, and the long path Ukraine has been pursuing since February 24,\u201d Zelenskyi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The video includes footage from the bunker in Kyiv\u2019s Bankova Street where Zelenskyi stayed in the initial days of the invasion. He said \u201chundreds of people\u201d were there at that time. \u201cHere was our team, the government, daily coordination with the military, phone calls, the search for solutions \u2013 everything necessary for Ukraine to endure,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur people did not raise a white flag \u2013 they defended the blue and yellow one. And the occupiers, who thought they would be met here with crowds waving flowers, saw lines at the recruitment centers instead. Our people chose resistance. And our warriors stood firm, and civilians defended cities and villages, streets and yards. Ordinary people, absolutely, forming living walls, stopped columns of military vehicles, and all together showed lost Russia the only right road,\u201d Zelenskyi continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He remembered the victims of Russia\u2019s aggression in Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka, Mariupol and other cities across Ukraine. He also mentioned the mass graves and Russian aerial strikes on apartment buildings and maternity hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMen do not fight like this. People do not act like this. Ukrainians will not forget it. Let this footage be seen by everyone who has no pangs of conscience, by all who still extend a hand to Russian evil and still buy Putin\u2019s oil,\u201d Zelenskyi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat once seemed unthinkable has now become the norm. Patriots, IRIS-Ts, NASAMS, F-16s \u2013 and something greater: our own weapons, our long-range capability,\u201d he said, adding \u201cUkraine has come a long way \u2013 from the point when we were being given body armor to the point when we ourselves produce more than three million FPV drones a year.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskyi paid tribute to Ukraine\u2019s fallen service members, calling some of them by their name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe strength that has sustained us all these years is you. Our people. Our resistance is you. Ukrainian men. Ukrainian women. Everyone who does not give up. (\u2026) And I want to thank each and every one who carries independence on their shoulders. Every warrior \u2013 for your strength. Your parents, your children, your wives and husbands \u2013 for their endurance. I thank all those whose work makes Ukraine stronger. (\u2026) I am proud of you. I believe in each and every one of you. In all of you to whom, without any exaggeration, I have the honor to say: Great people of a great Ukraine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that there is \u201cless than a week\u201d left until spring starts and that Ukraine was \u201cgetting through the hardest winter in history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskyi said Putin had not achieved his original war goals. \u201cPutin has not achieved his goals. He has not broken Ukrainians. He has not won this war. We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to secure peace and justice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, presented a war plan Tuesday designed to \u201cforce Russia into peace.\u201d The blueprint that, according to Fedorov, goes in parallel with diplomatic efforts to end the war has three goals: to strengthen air defenses, stop Russia\u2019s advances and deprive it from revenue to continue fighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery day, every Ukrainian thinks about one thing: when the war will end. We want peace more than anyone in the world. The President, the negotiating team, and diplomats work every day to bring it closer. But russia continues to fight because it believes it can break us with force and resources. Therefore, the President has given the Ministry of Defense a clear task: alongside diplomacy, strengthen our defense in such a way that we force the enemy into peace\u201d, the defense ministry quoted Fedorov as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the plan, Ukraine aims to detect 100 per cent of aerial threats in real-time and intercept at least 95 per cent of incoming missiles and drones. Efforts are underway to create a layered air defense system and scale up the use of interceptor drones, Fedorov said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second goal is to stop Russia on the ground, in the sea and in the cyber realm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe enemy pays for every kilometer of Ukrainian land. In the Donetsk region \u2014 156 soldiers per one square kilometer. Our benchmark is over 200 killed occupiers for each km\u00b2. This is the level of losses at which further advance becomes impossible. The goal is to stop the enemy in every domain \u2014 on land, at sea, and in cyberspace. We know how to achieve this,\u201d Fedorov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s military is working to improve the procurement system, complete the army\u2019s transition to a corps structure and switch to data-driven training and management processes, he explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan\u2019s third goal is to deprive Russia of economic resources to wage the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s proceeds from oil exports fuel the war. Its shadow fleet has a central role in enabling the profiteering. Ukraine aims for tightened sanctions against Russia. It will coordinate with partners, design a strategy to counter the illegal fleet and act in the sea together with allies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ministry said it is looking at developing international partnerships, maintaining leadership in innovation, relying on data in decision making to achieve the goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeace in Ukraine will come when the sky is closed, the russian army loses its offensive potential, and russia\u2019s economy cannot withstand the pressure. We work every day to make this happen. To make each day of war a threat to russia\u2019s very existence\u201d, Fedorov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Ukrainian counterattack in the country\u2019s southeast is chipping away at Russian advances there and demonstrating that Kyiv\u2019s forces have got plenty of fight left as Moscow\u2019s invasion stretches into a fifth year, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said on Monday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article as it appears in other media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine has embarrassed Russian generals\u2019 claims of significant gains by largely clearing the city of Kupyansk in the northeast of Russian forces and retaking several villages in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian military casualties total some 1.2 million, of which as many as 325,000 have been killed, more than double the numbers for Ukraine, according to CSIS. While Russia has long been able to attract volunteers to the war with large payments, there are signs that recruitment is now struggling to keep pace with casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Western defense officials have also concluded that Russian recruitment is on the slide. Over the past three months Russia has recruited 30,000 to 35,000 soldiers monthly, but more have been killed or wounded, according to a Western official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Russia has enough troops to keep up its current operations, the lack of troops is among the reasons Moscow might find it difficult to make major breakthroughs, some analysts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian advances in some of its major offensives are slower than the infamous Battle of the Somme in World War I, according to CSIS. In Chasiv Yar, a city on strategic heights in the eastern Donetsk province, Russia has advanced just over 6 miles at an average pace of approximately 16 yards a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia was only able to capture around 0.8% of Ukrainian territory last year, according to one Western official. Military intelligence in several European countries estimate that Russia will continue to make incremental gains on the ground but at a very high cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian forces are mainly advancing on foot in so-called infiltration groups, small teams of no more than a handful of soldiers who sneak forward under artillery fire and attacks from drones and try to survive and await reinforcements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tactics are leading to heavy Russian losses and weak control over any land seized, giving Ukraine the chance to push back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a report on February 12, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Ukrainian forces were conducting localized and opportunistic counterattacks near the Dnipropetrovsk-Zaporizhia Oblast administrative border, likely to take advantage of recent blocks on Starlink terminals and Telegram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine has liberated 300 sq km in counterattacks along the southern front line, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told AFP in an interview released on February 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine has regained control of 400 sq km of land and eight towns and villages in the Oleksandrivka direction in the country\u2019s south since late January, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a post to social media Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"