In solemn ceremonies and small vigils, state visits, moving speeches and declarations of solidarity, Ukraine and its allies marked the dawn of the third year of Russia’s unprovoked invasion with a single message: Believe.
“When thousands of columns of Russian invaders advanced from all directions towards Ukraine, when thousands of rockets and bombs fell on our land, no one in the world believed that we would resist,” said General Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s newly appointed top military commander. . “No one believed, but Ukraine did!”
On the 731st day of the war, Ukrainian soldiers once again find themselves outmanned and outgunned, fighting for their nation’s survival while trying to convince a skeptical world that they can withstand the relentless onslaught, even as they suffer losses in the war. battlefield and are challenged. along the front line by Russian forces.
The leaders of Canada, Belgium and Italy, as well as European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen, were among the dignitaries who traveled to kyiv in a show of solidarity. While many analysts at the outbreak of the war believed that European nations would waver in their support for Ukraine in a protracted fight, these countries are now stepping forward, trying to help fill the void left by the United States, where Republicans in Congress has for months blocked any new military assistance to kyiv.
With Ukraine’s allies at his side outside the wrecked hangar that once housed a giant Mriya cargo plane, President Volodymyr Zelensky presented awards to soldiers at Hostomel airport, where a crucial battle took place two years ago.
“When our soldiers destroyed the landing of Russian assassins and did not allow Russia to create its foothold here, the world saw the most important thing,” he said. “It was seen that any evil can be defeated and Russian aggression is no exception.”
However, the Ukrainians did not need to be reminded of what they are fighting for or the cost of a defeat.
In Bucha, where a massacre of civilians, one of the first widely documented atrocities of the war, has become a symbol of the brutal Russian occupation, residents gathered at a memorial where a mass grave containing the remains of 117 people. Some of the victims had been burned to death. Others had been shot. Many showed signs of torture.
“Two years of fear, two years of Russia mocking us,” said Oleksandr Hrytsynenko, 77, as he paid his respects to his fallen neighbors. “We need to arm ourselves with infinite patience.”
As people gathered outside, Vira Katanenko was inside the church preparing to bury her son, Andrii, 39. He was killed along with two other soldiers this week by a Russian missile in a village outside Avdiivka, a stronghold of Ukrainian defenses that fell last week. to the Russian troops.
“The Russians killed my son,” he said. “Will the United States help us get rid of the Russians?”
That is a question that is on the minds of many. But as kyiv waits for a response, the Ukrainian military pointed to the sky on Saturday as evidence that it can still cause Moscow pain.
Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk said Saturday that a Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft had been shot down by Ukrainian forces near Yeysk in Russia, about 250 miles from the Ukrainian border.
The claim could not be independently confirmed, but the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group, confirmed that a plane had crashed in the region, saying: “Images released on February 23 show a fixed-wing plane falling and geolocated.” “The images show a major fire with secondary detonations.”
The A-50, with its various circular radar arrays rising from the fuselage, is instrumental in coordinating Russian aerial bombardments of Ukrainian positions on the front lines, where its forces have used powerful guided bombs to devastating effect. The loss of two A-50s in recent weeks, military analysts said, would be a significant blow that could help temporarily relieve pressure on troops on the front lines.
General Syrsky, who admitted that Russia has the initiative on the entire front, said the Ukrainian attacks on aircraft reflected a broader effort to use asymmetric tactics against a much larger enemy.
As part of that campaign, Ukrainians have also promised to take the fight deep inside Russia.
Two years after the Kremlin directed missiles and rockets at cities across Ukraine, Ukrainian intelligence officials said Saturday they orchestrated a drone attack on one of Russia’s largest steel plants, one that provided raw materials to Russian companies involved. in the production of nuclear and ballistic weapons. missiles.
Igor Artamonov, governor of Russia’s Lipetsk region, confirmed that there was a fire at the main plant of the Russian metallurgical company, Novolipetsk Steel, and said preliminary reports indicated it was caused by a drone, according to a statement he posted on Telegram. .
Ukraine’s claims could not be independently confirmed.
The Ukrainian military has said such attacks are a central part of its effort to degrade the Kremlin’s military-industrial complex, undermine key industries that fund its war effort and make Russians feel the cost of the war on their territory. But Russia has demonstrated the ability to overcome the effects of sanctions to boost its weapons production.
Ukrainian drones targeted facilities at the plant designed for primary cooling of raw coke gas, in an effort to halt production at the plant for an extended period, according to Ukrainian security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. sensitive. .
For Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front, anything that could degrade the Russian war machine is welcome, but they have no illusions. The road ahead will be as long as it is probably deadly.
“Every anniversary comes with the idea that it should end,” said Shaman, 40, a battalion commander fighting in eastern Ukraine. “Every year that passes is one more year that they steal from us. You spend your time away from your wife and children. “All life is on hold.”
Lana Chupryna, 15, has lived most of her life in the shadow of war. On Saturday, she joined other schoolchildren under a bridge in Irpin that was blown up by Ukrainian soldiers desperate to stop the Russian advance on kyiv in the early days of the war.
“Feb. 24 was an ordinary day,” he said of the start of the Russian invasion. “I was supposed to go to school, but at five in the morning the bombings started. I went with my mother and she told me that the war had begun.”
He still struggles to understand how his life had been turned upside down, but the memories of those early days, he said, “I think will remain in my soul forever.”
Draped in a Ukrainian flag, she sang a heartbreaking song written by her mother to the gathered crowd as the river flowed through the remains of war around her.
“My land will never become a land of strangers,” he sang. “Together with you I will pass through cannons and smoke.”
Liubov Sholudko contributed reports from kyiv, Bucha and Irpin and Carlota Gall contributed reporting from eastern Ukraine.