Volodymyr Zelensky's Ukraine aims to shift the focus of the war to Crimea. Vladimir Putin's Russia is only open to peace on its own terms and, 'alternatively', is ready to wipe out the enemy. 2024 opens with cross-messages between Kiev and Moscow, while the conflict that began in February 2022 heads towards 2 years.
Already in the last message of 2023 Zelensky bet on a successful campaign in the new year. Now, in words to The Economist, the Ukrainian president turns the spotlight on the strategy that Kiev aims to implement: in 2024 Crimea and the related battle in the Black Sea will become the center of gravity of the war. According to Zelensky, the isolation of occupied Crimea and the weakening of Russian military potential is extremely important for us, because it is a way to reduce the number of attacks from this region.”
The president is convinced that a successful operation would be “an example for the world” and would also have a great effect inside Russia: the loss of a central element of the Kremlin's propaganda would demonstrate that “thousands of Russian officers died just because of Putin's ambitions.”
Ukraine, the president reiterates, needs the support of the West: “By giving us money or weapons you are saving your children, not ours. In 2023 we were not able to have the success that the world wanted. Maybe not everything is happening as quickly as some imagined. But – Zelensky underlines – the idea that Putin is 'winning' is nothing more than a sensation. And the reality is that Russian soldiers are dying even in places like Avdiivkawhere the president went the other day.”
Putin: “Let's sweep Kiev away”
Putin's message arrives from Moscow which leaves little room for interpretation. “The strategic initiative at the front is in the hands of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the enemy is gradually being swept away”, says the Russian president in the meeting with the soldiers hospitalized at the Vishnevsky hospital. “We have the means of destruction that no other army in the world has.” The capabilities of the Russian armed forces are “constantly growing”, adds Putin. Ukraine, Putin notes, is rapidly exhausting the Western ammunition it receives.
Moscow, says the Kremlin leader, is ready to lay down its arms. Detail: peace, however, can only be hypothesized under the conditions of Russia, which does not intend to renounce the regions considered annexed to its territory. It is clear that on this basis, as has become clear several times, there is no basis for agreement with Ukraine, which does not accept territorial sacrifices. “Russia wants to end the Ukrainian conflict as quickly as possible, but on its own terms,” Putin says. Russia, he adds, “does not want to fight endlessly, but it will not give up its positions either, 'this will not happen'”. Ukraine, the president of the Russian Federation continues, “is not in itself an enemy of Russia, the enemy is those in the West who want the defeat of the Russian Federation”.
2024 begins with new attacks
After the attacks that ended 2023, the new year opens with a familiar script. Russian forces launched a record number of 90 drones into Ukraine on New Year's Eve, 87 of which were shot down. At least one person was killed and three others were injured in a residential area of the southern Odessa region, while damage is being reported in the port of this city. In Lviv, the museum dedicated to Ukrainian nationalist Roman Shukhevych was destroyed. Missile attacks occurred in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the December 29 attack in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kiev has risen to 29, as reported by 'Ukrainska Pravda' which quotes Serhii Popko, the head of the military administration of the city of Kiev. “For three days in a row, rescuers conducted a search and rescue operation after an air strike on Kiev. Unfortunately, the bodies of those killed by Russian missiles are still being found. This is the worst tragedy for the capital since the beginning of the Russian invasion”.
Ukraine responded with an attack on Belgorod, a Russian city near the border with Ukraine: according to local authorities, Kiev's action caused 25 deaths, including 5 children. The number of injured, however, rose to 109.
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