“Exactly 100 days ago we woke up to a new reality,” said the head of state. He described the experience of the war using new words that Ukrainians should have learned. These included terrible words like rocket launches, ruins, deportation. Place names were added, such as Hostomel, Bucha or Mariupol, the names of Russian, Ukrainian and foreign weapon systems. But there are also positive words: reconstruction, return, liberation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an attack on the neighboring country on February 24. At that time, the Russian army was reputed to be the second strongest in the world, Zelenskyy said. “What’s left of her?” he asked. “War crimes, shame and hate.” But Ukraine existed, exists and will exist.
Ukraine will get rid of the “Russian barbarians,” Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a selfie video he posted on his Telegram channel on Friday. “Yes, it will be difficult. But I believe that each of us will go through these trials with dignity. Because this is a war of evil and good. And goodness and justice still win.” Russia is waging a “barbaric war to destroy Ukraine and the Ukrainians”.
According to Klitschko, 100 days of war are filled with bloody battles, casualties and deaths. “But it’s also a moment of courage and perseverance,” said the former boxing world champion. “We all stood up and fought together. Everyone in their seats. We admired our strengths,” he said. Ukraine has become stronger and more successful, the 50-year-old said. “That’s why we’re going to win!”
According to Ukraine, it recovered about a fifth of the territory lost to the Russian army in the city of Sievjerodonetsk. This was explained by the head of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajdaj, on television, as Reuters news agency reported on Friday night. The information cannot be independently verified.
According to its chief negotiator, Ukraine will only return to the negotiating table when it has a stronger position in the war against Russia. There are good reasons for the interruption, while heavy fighting is raging in eastern Ukraine, Davyd Arakhamiya said on Ukrainian television on Friday. “Negotiations should continue when our negotiating position is strengthened,” said the leader of the presidential party’s parliamentary group Servos do Povo. Above all, Ukraine will become stronger because “the weapons that are constantly promised to us by international partners finally arrive in sufficient quantities”.
Arakhamiya led the Kiev delegation in negotiations with Russia in the first weeks of the 100-day war. However, contact ended when, after the withdrawal of Russian soldiers, atrocities in Kiev’s suburbs, such as Bucha, became known. President Zelenskyy does not want to negotiate again until Russian troops at least withdraw to the pre-February 24 borders. He also wants to speak directly to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, which Russia has so far refused to do.
The Kremlin stressed on Friday that it would continue what it called a “special military operation” in Ukraine until all objectives were achieved. Some results have already been achieved, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Interfax news agency. One objective is total control over the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. According to British intelligence services, Russia now controls over 90% of the Luhansk region. Moscow is likely to take full control in the next two weeks, according to an update from the British Ministry of Defence.
Meanwhile, 27 EU countries have decided on the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes a far-reaching oil embargo. Among other things, the sanctions that went into effect on Friday exclude the biggest Russian bank, Sberbank, from the Swift financial communications network and ban several Russian news outlets in the EU. The particularly economically relevant boycott of oil deliveries from Russia is aimed at preventing oil from entering the EU by sea next year. Hungary managed to waive sanctions against the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.