Source : Perth Now news
European leaders have joined President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv for official celebrations marking Ukraine’s Independence Day as Russia pushes on with its 4-year-old invasion of the country.
One of President Vladimir Putin’s key goals in starting a war with Russia’s neighbour in February 2022 was to place Kyiv in Moscow’s orbit. Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence in 1991.
With no significant changes on the front line for months and no apparent progress after more than a year of US-led peace efforts, the warring countries are locked in a spiral of escalating aerial attacks that are killing civilians and smashing infrastructure.
In a defiant speech marking Independence Day celebrations, Zelenskiy said Ukraine wanted peace but would not just give in to Russia at any price.
“Ukraine absolutely wants peace, but it’s not ready to simply surrender,” Zelenskiy said in a video posted on social media.
He said Russia’s demand – repeatedly rejected by Ukraine – that Kyiv cede the remaining part of the eastern Donbas area that was not in Russian hands after four-and-a-half years of war would not be enough to stop Russian aggression.
“We will not let (Russia) seize the initiative, deceive Europe and the entire world into thinking that we simply need to give up Donbas and everything will be over soon,” he said.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, on his first overseas trip since taking office in July, on Monday joined almost a dozen other European leaders, as well as other dignitaries including European Council President Antonio Costa, in Kyiv.
Burnham was to co-chair a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing group of countries helping Ukraine resist Russia’s onslaught, with the leaders of France and Germany expected to join online.
The visiting leaders took to Kyiv pledges of further military and financial support.
Burnham is expected to announce that the UK government has agreed to allow defence company MBDA to release classified information relating to British components used in the SCALP long-range missile, according to his office.
That would pave the way for France and Ukraine to advance plans for local production of the weapon in Ukraine.
SCALP is the French version of the UK’s Storm Shadow missile, with both systems incorporating shared French and British technology.
Ukraine has leaned heavily on NATO countries for help fighting Russia’s bigger army, although relations with the United States have been cooler under President Donald Trump.
Russia, meanwhile, is getting help from North Korea and China.
Both Russia and Ukraine are trying through long-range strikes to inflict economic pain, disrupt military supplies and erode public morale.
Ukraine’s long-range drones have repeatedly hit facilities in Russia’s vital oil industry, causing fuel shortages, and have also engaged in a campaign against Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries.
Three teenagers were killed and six children were wounded in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, Russia’s children’s rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova said, as Ukraine attacked several warehouses of Ozon for the third straight day.
Ozon is one of Russia’s major e-commerce retailers.
The company said a large fire raged at an Ozon logistics facility in the suburbs of Krasnodar following the overnight attack.
A drone also hit the grounds of an Ozon logistics center in the southern Russian region of Adygeya, regional governor Murat Kumpilov said, though the company said its Adygeya warehouse wasn’t damaged.
In all, four Ozon premises appeared to have been targeted.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences overnight intercepted and destroyed 351 Ukrainian drones over eight Russian regions, as well as occupied Crimea and the waters of the Azov and the Black Seas.
The ministry also said its forces overnight continued to strike Ukrainian ports and vessels delivering cargo for the armed forces.
with Reuters
