WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

One year into invasion, Ukraine mourns dead and vows victory

Ukraine honored its dead and vowed to keep fighting on Friday while Russia told the world to accept "the realities" of its war but faced new Western sanctions on the invasion's anniversary.

At a ceremony in Kyiv's St Sophia Square, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy bestowed medals on soldiers and the mother of one killed. He fought back tears at the national anthem.

"We have become one family ... Ukrainians have sheltered Ukrainians, opened their homes and hearts to those who were forced to flee the war," he said in a televised address.

"We withstand all threats, shelling, cluster bombs, cruise missiles, kamikaze drones, blackouts and cold ... And we will do everything to gain victory this year."

Zelenskiy reiterated calls for more Western weaponry and attended an online summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies who pledged to intensify their support.

"A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase the people’s love of liberty," Biden said on Twitter.

"Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never."

Washington announced a new $2 billion package of military aid for Ukraine, and a raft of additional sanctions and tariffs hitting Russia's mining and metals industries, as well as companies from third countries accused of supplying Moscow with restricted goods.

However, Biden reiterated in an interview with ABC News that he had no plans to send Ukraine the F-16 fighter jets Zelenskiy has been seeking for months, saying the U.S. does not currently see a rationale for sending the advanced aircraft.

"I am ruling it out for now," Biden said.

G7 members Canada and Britain unveiled similar measures, as did the 27-nation European Union, after some hectic last-minute negotiations.

At the same time, Ukraine's military said Russia had doubled the number of ships on active duty in the Black Sea on Friday and predicted it could be preparation for more missile strikes.

For Ukrainians, who have spent much of the year in fear and grief and supporting the war effort any way they can, the anniversary meant reflection.

"When an innocent person's life is taken before your own eyes, when someone aims at a child, you just ask 'Why? What for'?" said Alla Nechyporenko, 50, whose husband was shot dead and 14-year-old son wounded at a Russian checkpoint in Bucha, near Kyiv, early in the war.

In Russia, where publicly criticizing the war is punishable by long prison terms, a human rights group said dozens of people were detained by police for actions to commemorate victims of the invasion, in some cases just for placing flowers.

There were no official public events and the mood was muted.

"I really want peace, I really want it all to end as soon as possible," said Vera, a pensioner.

Igor, walking through Moscow, said Russia must win: "We're looking forward to it ending successfully. That's all we can expect. We have no other options."

** BLUE AND YELLOW

Ukraine's blue and yellow colors lit up the Eiffel Tower, Brandenburg Gate, Empire State Building and Sydney Opera House in a wave of international solidarity.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides are believed to have died since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, saying it was necessary to protect Russia's security.

Ukraine sees it as a bid to subjugate an independent state. Its outnumbered and outgunned forces repelled Russia's attempt to seize Kyiv early in the war and later recaptured swathes of occupied territory. But Moscow still occupies nearly a fifth of Ukraine, which it claims to have annexed.

Russia's foreign ministry said the world should recognize "new territorial realities" in Ukraine to achieve peace.

Russian troops have destroyed Ukrainian cities, set a third of the population to flight and left behind streets littered with corpses in towns they occupied and lost.

Moscow denies war crimes.

In recent weeks, Russian forces, replenished with hundreds of thousands of conscripts, have waged intense trench warfare, making only small gains despite fighting that both sides call the bloodiest so far.

Putin says he is battling the combined might of the West in a fight for Russia's survival. Kyiv says there can be no peace until Russia withdraws.

In the latest reports from the battlefield, Russia's Wagner private army, run by a Putin ally who has quarrelled with the regular military brass, claimed to have captured another village on the outskirts of Bakhmut, a small eastern mining city that is the focus of Moscow's offensive.

Russia has made clear, if slow, progress towards encircling Bakhmut, but failed to capture it in time to deliver a victory for Putin to announce on the anniversary.

"We'll be here for as long as needed, as long as we can," said Ivan, a 31-year-old Ukrainian radio operator on the front line near Bakhmut.

Costly Russian assaults have yielded little in the way of advances elsewhere. Ukraine, for its part, is awaiting new Western weapons before starting a counter-attack.

Despite strong support for Ukraine in the West, big developing nations, above all China and India, have kept clear of imposing sanctions on Moscow. At a meeting of finance ministers of the G20 group, which includes Russia, host India made no mention of the conflict.

China, which signed a "no limits" partnership with Russia just before the war and sent its top diplomat to Moscow this week, called for a ceasefire, sticking to its principle of public neutrality.

** U.S. targets Russia with sanctions, Moscow says measures won't work

The United States marked the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Friday with $2 billion in weaponry for Kyiv and new sanctions against Russia aimed at undermining Moscow's ability to wage war.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration unveiled the sanctions as the Group of 7 bloc of wealthy nations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met to discuss more aid.

Among the steps were placing visa restrictions on Russian military members, freezing assets of allies of President Vladimir Putin, effectively banning aluminum imports from Russia, curbing Russian banking and arms-making activity and putting the country's second largest mobile phone company Megafon on a trade blacklist.

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, said the sanctions would have no impact.

Additional measures could be imposed at a later date, U.S. officials said.

The administration also sent a message to China and other countries that they should not try to help Russia evade sanctions.

"We will sanction additional actors tied to Russia's defense and technology industry, including those responsible for backfilling Russian stocks of sanctioned items or enabling Russian sanctions evasion," the White House said.

The aid to Ukraine fell short of providing the F-16 fighter jets that Kyiv has requested and some U.S. officials are raising doubts about the ability of such measures to slow the increasing hostilities on the battlefield ahead of an anticipated springtime offensive.

Antonov said the new sanctions were "thoughtless" and designed to make Russia suffer.

"Does anyone really think that this is the way to get our country to abandon its independent policies, to force it off its chosen path towards building a multipolar world based on the principle of indivisible security, on international law and the UN Charter?" a post on the embassy's Facebook page quoted him as saying.

** NEW PENALTIES

After the G7 meeting, the leaders issued a statement on "our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes" including with more potential sanctions.

European Union countries later overcome internal disagreements and announced a 10th round of sanctions.

The U.S. State Department's sanctions included Russian Cabinet ministers and dozens of governors and regional chiefs.

The U.S. Treasury Department's new measures hit 22 Russian individuals and 83 entities, adding to more than 2,500 sanctions imposed over the past year.

Increased U.S. tariffs will also be levied on more than 100 Russian metals, minerals and chemical products worth about $2.8 billion to Russia.

The United States also planned to announce $250 million in aid to shore up Ukraine's energy infrastructure in the face of Russian attacks. Ukraine's neighbor Moldova will get $300 million to help wean itself from energy dependence on Russia.

Prosecutors announced steps to charge a Russian national with illegally exporting counterintelligence equipment and to seize the Park Avenue, New York, apartment and other property worth $75 million belonging to Putin associate Viktor Vekselberg, whom Washington imposed sanctions on most recently in 2022.

While multiple rounds of Western sanctions have damaged the Russian economy, Putin can still fund his war. That has prompted officials to focus increasingly on third parties that are helping Russia dodge the sanctions.

Treasury included penalties on more than 30 people and companies from Switzerland, Germany and other nations for helping Moscow finance its war against Ukraine.

The Commerce Department, meanwhile, is imposing export curbs on nearly 90 Russian and third-country companies, including in China, for engaging in sanctions evasion in support of Russia's defense sector and prohibit them from buying items like semiconductors. And they are working to prevent components found in Iranian drones from making their way to the Ukraine battlefield, officials said.

Washington has warned, without producing evidence, that China is consideringproviding weapons to Russia. China has said more weapons would worsen the conflict.

The Biden administration has committed more than $32 billion in military aid over the past year to Ukraine, including 8,500 Javelin anti-armor systems and 38 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and a number of different types of drones, according to the Defense Department.

** Ukraine sees some merit in Chinese peace plan

China called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was open to considering parts of a 12-point peace plan put forward by Beijing.

On the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's ally China urged both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation, warned against the use of nuclear weapons and said conflict benefited no one.

The plan, set out in a foreign ministry paper, was largely a reiteration of China's line since Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" on Feb. 24 last year.

China has refrained from condemning its ally Russia or referring to Moscow's intervention in its neighbour as an "invasion". It has also criticised Western sanctions on Russia.

"All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiralling out of control," the ministry said in its paper.

The initial reaction from Kyiv was dismissive, with a senior adviser to President Zelenskiy saying any plan to end the war must involve the withdrawal of Russian troops to borders in place when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

However, Zelenskiy himself struck a more receptive tone in a news conference to mark the first anniversary of the conflict.

Russia said it appreciated China's plan and that it was open to achieving its goals through political and diplomatic means.

The proposals however cut little ice with NATO.

"China doesn't have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Tallinn.

** 'NO NUCLEAR WAR'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signalled he will double down on the conflict, despite major battlefield defeats in the past year, and has raised the spectre of nuclear weapons.

China said nuclear weapons must be avoided.

"Nuclear weapons must not be used and nuclear wars must not be fought," the foreign ministry said. "We oppose development, use of biological and chemical weapons by any country under any circumstances."

Since the war began weeks after Beijing and Moscow announced a "no limits" partnership, President Xi Jinping has spoken regularly with Putin but not once with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskiy. China's top diplomat Wang Yi visited Moscow for talks this week.

Brazil's new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stressed the need for a peace deal brokered by outsiders.

"It is urgent that a group of countries not involved in the conflict assume the responsibility of leading negotiations to reestablish peace," Lula said on Twitter.

There had been speculation that President Xi would deliver a "peace speech" on Friday but that did not occur.

** EU approves 10th package of Russia sanctions on anniversary of invasion

The European Union, after hectic last-minute haggling, has approved a tenth package of Russia sanctions on the anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish EU presidency said late on Friday.

"Together, the EU member states have imposed the most forceful and far-reaching sanctions ever to help Ukraine win the war," the presidency announced on Twitter.

"The EU stands united with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will keep supporting Ukraine, for as long as it takes."

The package includes tighter export restrictions regarding dual-use goods as well as measures against entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia.

With two hours to go until midnight, EU member states made it across the finish line with little time to spare after Poland earlier threw a spanner into the works.

Warsaw said the proposed restrictions on EU imports of Russian rubber included such a big quota of imports exempted and such long transition periods that they would have no effect in practice.

Other EU countries were baffled that Warsaw - a leading Russia hawk in the bloc - was risking having no new sanctions announced on the one-year anniversary of Russia's attack against Ukraine over just one element of a broader package.

"This is very bad optics. What was supposed to be key here is a message of solidarity with Ukraine on this special day," said one diplomat involved in the confidential negotiations between the 27 EU countries in the bloc's hub Brussels.

All member states need to approve sanctions for them to be enacted, making negotiations among the 27 often tedious and lengthy.

The EU has said the 10th round of sanctions against Russia since the war started was designed to make financing the war more difficult and starve Russia of tech equipment and spare parts for arms used against Ukraine.

Measures were also meant to blacklist more individuals including what the West says are Russian propagandists, those Kyiv holds responsible for deporting Ukrainian children to Russia and those involved in the production of Iranian drones deployed on the frontline.

The package was also designed to cut off more banks including the private Alfa-Bank and the online bank Tinkoff from the global system SWIFT and cut trade between the EU and Russia by more than 10 billion euros, according to the bloc's executive.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

NATO majors float Ukraine negotiations plan

London has proposed giving Kiev even more weapons and security guarantees just short of membership in the US-led military bloc, in order to encourage negotiations with Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Paris and Berlin reportedly support the initiative and have already advised President Vladimir Zelensky to talk, though he has refused.

Though French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly called for “a military offensive which pushes back the Russian front in order to open the way for a return to negotiations,” he has privately advised Zelensky to make “difficult decisions,” according to officials who spoke to the Journal.

Over dinner at the Elysee Palace earlier this month, Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Zelensky he needed to start considering peace talks, according to people familiar with the conversation. London, Paris and Berlin would not comment on the record. 

“We keep repeating that Russia mustn’t win, but what does that mean? If the war goes on for long enough with this intensity, Ukraine’s losses will become unbearable,” a senior French official told the Journal. “And no one believes they will be able to retrieve Crimea.”

As a way to encourage Zelensky, the outlet said, British PM Rishi Sunak has put together a plan to give Kiev “broader access to advanced military equipment, weapons and ammunition,” to be considered at the NATO summit in July. 

“The NATO summit must produce a clear offer to Ukraine, also to give Zelensky a political win that he can present at home as an incentive for negotiations,” an unnamed British official told the outlet. If Moscow sees that the West is prepared to support Kiev even more, maybe it will be persuaded it can’t achieve its military objectives, the official added.

France and Germany support the initiative and see it as a way to “boost Ukrainian confidence” and give it an incentive to start negotiations with Russia, according to unnamed officials from both countries.

Sunak’s plan does not include stationing NATO forces in Ukraine or offering Kiev “Article 5” commitments to intervene in case of an attack, the officials said. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Melnik said it was a good first step, but that Kiev needed “a clear commitment that it does not exclude NATO membership, which is the only solution for a lasting peace.”

On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry listed its conditions for the diplomatic solution of the conflict, which included the West ending its “supply of weapons and mercenaries” to Kiev and Ukraine returning to neutrality after being demilitarized and “denazified.”

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Russia is winning the logistical war of attrition, leaving it unclear how much the US-led bloc could spare for Ukraine in terms of weapons and ammunition.

Zelensky has rejected any negotiations with Moscow, saying on Friday that “There is nothing to talk about and nobody to talk about over there.”

** China slams NATO, warns of ‘confrontation and crisis’ ahead

The world will continue to be beset by wars and geopolitical turmoil as long as NATO keeps behaving as if it’s still fighting the Cold War and the Iron Curtain hasn’t fallen, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

“Clinging to the Cold War mentality leads to antagonism and confrontation,”ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters at a briefing in Beijing. “The end of the Cold War more than three decades ago doesn’t mean the end to the zero-sum thinking and the Cold War mentality. The Berlin Wall was torn down, yet the fence of ideology and prejudices based on values still stand.”

Wang made his comments as Beijing marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Earlier on Friday, the ministry released a 12-point plan for bringing an end to the fighting – a roadmap that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg dismissed as lacking in “credibility” because China has maintained its close ties with Russia.

Wang noted that NATO, which was formed in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union, continues to exist over three decades after the USSR’s collapse. The Western military bloc “even constantly seeks to reach beyond its traditional defense zone and scope and stoke tensions and create troubles in the Asia-Pacific,” he said.

If such Cold War mentality lingers on and goes unchecked, confrontation and crisis will be what the future holds in store for us all.”

China has maintained neutrality over the Ukraine crisis despite intense pressure from the US and its NATO allies to condemn Russia. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen threatened on Thursday that Beijing would face “serious consequences” if it helps Russia evade Washington’s sanctions or provides aid to Moscow.

“We will certainly continue to make clear to the Chinese government and the companies and banks in their jurisdiction about what the rules are regarding our sanctions and the serious consequences they would face for violating them,”Yellen said at the G20 summit in New Delhi.

Wang accused Washington of applying a double standard, insisting on respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty even as the US wantonly violates the sovereignty of other nations. He also chided America’s ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, for brushing off a Chinese report on US hegemony as “crude propaganda and unworthy of a great power.” Wang said that “we would like to say to the US ambassador that strong-arm and coercive diplomacy is what is truly unworthy of a great power.”

** Russia comments on China’s Ukraine roadmap

China sincerely wants a diplomatic solution to the conflict, but the main obstacles to peace are the Ukrainian leadership and its backers in the West, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday. 

“We highly appreciate the sincere desire of our Chinese friends to contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine by peaceful means,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement, commenting on China’s 12-point “roadmap” for peacefully ending the hostilities. 

Moscow shares Beijing’s position that any sanctions not authorized by the UN Security Council are “illegitimate” and “a crude instrument of unfair competition and economic warfare.”

The two countries also agree on the UN Charter, the norms of international law, and the principle of the indivisibility of security. Those considerations informed Russia’s proposals for security guarantees, made to the US and NATO in December 2021 – proposals which the West rejected, Zakharova noted.

When it comes to Ukraine, “Russia is open to achieving its goals through political and diplomatic means,” Zakharova said, laying out the criteria for a “comprehensive, just and sustainable peace.”

This involves the West ending the supply of weapons and mercenaries to Ukraine, the end of hostilities, the return of Ukraine to a neutral non-aligned status, recognition of the new territorial realities that have developed as a result of the people’s right to self-determination, the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, as well as the elimination of all threats emanating from its territory.

All citizens of Ukraine, including Russian-speakers and ethnic minorities, should be guaranteed their inalienable rights, and Kiev must end “all illegal restrictive measures and politicized lawsuits,” Zakharova added.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the main obstacle to peace is currently the Ukrainian ban on negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin, enacted by the government in Kiev at the end of September 2022. 

The insistence of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on withdrawing Russian armed forces “from our new territories – Donbass, Crimea, Zaporozhye and Kherson,” testifies “to what extent official Kiev is detached from reality,”Zakharova said.

She also noted that the Ukrainian government stopped the peace negotiations with Russia, which Kiev had initiated, in April 2022. According to pro-government media in Ukraine, that decision was made after Boris Johnson – who was the British prime minister at the time – visited Kiev and said the West was unwilling to make peace with Russia. 

NATO and the EU have rejected the Chinese proposal out of hand, saying Beijing had “no credibility” when it came to Ukraine, because it did not join them in denouncing Moscow.

Reuters/RT