Putin’s ally, Medvedev considers advancing on border with Poland
(Reuters) – Ukrainians paid tribute to their deceased loved ones on Friday and vowed to fight to victory, while Russia said its forces were making gains in the battle in the east as the war entered a second year with no end in sight.
At a ceremony in St. Sophia Square in Kiev, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy awarded medals to a soldier on crutches and the mother of a dead man, and held back tears as a band played the national anthem.
“We have become a family. There are no more strangers among us. Ukrainians today are all comrades. Ukrainians have sheltered Ukrainians, opened their homes and hearts to those who were forced to flee the war,” Zelenskiy said in a televised speech.
“We withstood all the threats, bombings, cluster bombs, cruise missiles, kamikaze drones, blackouts and cold. We are stronger than that,” he stated. “We have not been defeated. And we will do everything to win this year!”
Zelenskiy will attend an online summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and other Group of Seven leaders, who are expected to criticize the war, promise more support for Ukraine, and tighten financial sanctions against Russia.
For ordinary Ukrainians who have spent most of the year hiding in air-raid shelters and supporting the war effort in every way possible, the anniversary meant reflection.
“I buried my son who died in military service. I also buried my husband. I think it is very clear to you, I am alone now and it is very, very hard,” said 75-year-old Valentyna Krysan, a store clerk in Kiev. “I wish you a good day of peace, and may this never happen again in our lives.”
BLUE AND YELLOW FLAGS
Allies around the world showed their support. Paris lit up the Eiffel Tower with the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag. In London, where the street in front of the Russian embassy was painted blue and yellow, people wrapped in Ukrainian flags with their hands over their hearts gathered in a vigil holding a banner, “If you stand for freedom, stand for Ukraine.”
“There will be a life after this war, because Ukraine will win,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a speech.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a video message, praised “the determination and courage of the Ukrainians, how they defend their freedom. Germany supports them in this – with all the strength and for as long as it takes.”
There were no major public events to mark the anniversary on Friday in Russia, which fired off fireworks on Thursday for the annual “Defenders of the Fatherland” holiday and held a pop concert on Wednesday attended by President Vladimir Putin.
It is feared that tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed along with many other soldiers on both sides since Putin ordered the invasion a year ago, saying it was necessary to protect Russia’s security.
Ukraine sees the action as a brazen attempt to subjugate an independent state. Its outnumbered and outgunned forces repulsed Russia’s attempt to seize the capital Kiev early in the war and then recaptured swaths of occupied territory. But Moscow still occupies nearly one-fifth of Ukraine, which it claims to have annexed.
There is no sign of any peace process. Putin says he is fighting the combined power of the West in what he now describes as a fight for Russia’s survival. Kiev claims there can be no peace until Russia withdraws.
Ukraine sees the action as a brazen attempt to subjugate an independent state. Its outnumbered and outgunned forces repulsed Russia’s attempt to seize the capital Kiev early in the war and then recaptured swaths of occupied territory. But Moscow still occupies nearly one-fifth of Ukraine, which it claims to have annexed.
There is no sign of any peace process. Putin says he is fighting the combined power of the West in what he now describes as a fight for Russia’s survival. Kiev claims there can be no peace until Russia withdraws.
Putin’s ally, Medvedev considers advancing on border with Poland
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine is to reduce borders with hostile states as much as possible, even if that means advancing over the border with NATO member Poland.
Medvedev, who is now vice chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments in a message on his Telegram account exactly on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in what Moscow called a “special military operation” to protect Russian speakers and ensure its own security.
Ukraine says it is defending itself from an unprovoked colonial-style war of aggression and has vowed to retake all of its own territory by force, including the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Medvedev, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, predicted Friday that Russia will emerge victorious and that some sort of loose agreement will end the fighting.
“Victory will be achieved. We all want it to happen as soon as possible. And that day will come,” Medvedev said. He predicted that difficult negotiations with Ukraine and the West will follow, culminating in “some kind of agreement.”
But he said the resolution will lack what he called “fundamental agreements on real borders” and does not amount to a comprehensive European security pact, making it vital for Russia to extend its own borders now.
“That is why it is so important to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. To reduce as much as possible the borders that threaten our country, even if it is the border with Poland,” Medvedev said.
Poland shares long eastern borders with Ukraine and Russia’s ally Belarus, and a border of about 200 km in its northeastern corner with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
Any encroachment on Poland’s borders will put Russia for the first time in direct conflict with NATO. US President Joe Biden promised in a speech in Warsaw this week to defend “every inch” of NATO territory if attacked.
*** Translated by the DEFCONPress FYI Team ***