After 400 days of war, Ukraine prepares ‘steps to victory’. It is the message that President Volodymyr Zelensky is spreading 400 days after the start of the war with Russia triggered by the invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin. “Four hundred days of defense against total aggression,” says Zelensky.
“We have traveled an endless road: all together, anyone who has fought and is fighting for Ukraine”, says the president, looking back on the last year, “from the most terrifying days of that February”. Now “we prepare our next steps, our active maneuvers. We are preparing the advent of our victory”.
SPRING OFFENSIVE –
One thinks of the announced spring counter-offensive, which Kiev should conduct thanks to the military aid sent by the West, starting with the Leopard tanks supplied by Germany and by the countries that have bought German-made tanks in the past. However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urges people to avoid describing the expected spring offensive as a “decisive battle” for the fate of the conflict. “We must fight by all means the perception that the counteroffensive is the decisive battle of the war,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times.
This narrative, he explains, could be dangerous for Ukraine because, if it fails, it could strengthen those in the West who are pressing for a compromise solution with Moscow. Every war is made up of many battles, if we consider the counter-offensive to be decisive and we don’t free “100% of our territory”, Kuleba reasons, then someone will be able to say that “this was the last decisive battle and now we have to think of an alternative scenario” . According to the Ukrainian foreign minister, there is no alternative to the full restoration of Ukrainian territorial integrity.
RUSSIA – Even Russia, which has confirmed its intention to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, is preparing for the new crucial phase of the war. President Vladimir Putin signed the decree to kick off spring military conscription, which will last from April 1 to July 15: the measure aims to call 147,000 men for military service.
Moscow must also ensure that its forces are supplied with weapons, ammunition and equipment. The issue has been raised several times, even with polemical tones, by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenaries who are aligned in particular with Bakhmut. The United States believes that Russia continues to try to buy weapons and ammunition from North Korea. “According to new information, Russia is actively seeking to acquire additional munitions from North Korea,” said US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
According to Washington, Moscow is trying to conclude a secret agreement with Pyongyang and Kim Jong-un through the Slovak arms dealer, Ashot Mkrtychev, against which the United States has imposed sanctions. Russia seeks to obtain more than two dozen types of weapons and ammunition from North Korea, offering food items in exchange. An agreement, Kirby points out, which would violate several resolutions of the UN Security Council. “We will continue to monitor the matter closely”, continues the spokesman, recalling that Washington has taken note of Pyongyang’s recent declarations that it does not want to supply arms to Russia.
Kirby stresses that Washington will do everything possible to prevent Russia from obtaining weapons from North Korea or any other country to continue the war in Ukraine.
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