Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Live feed From 3h ago 05. 21 GMT 'This will be the year of our victory,' says Zelenskiy Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has just posted on Telegram saying, “On 24 February, millions of us made a choice. Not a white flag, but a blue and yellow flag.
Not fleeing, but facing. Facing the enemy. Resistance and struggle.
“It was a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity. And this is a year of our invincibility. We know that this will be the year of our victory!” Updated at 05.
29 GMT Key events 2h ago Wagner claims to have taken control of Berkhivka village north-west of Bakhmut 2h ago 'Russian leadership likely pursuing a long-term operation', says UK MoD 3h ago 'This will be the year of our victory,' says Zelenskiy 5h ago Ukraine welcomes China's position paper as 'a good sign' and calls for China's help 6h ago US to provide Ukraine additional $2bn in security assistance 6h ago US to impose new sanctions 7h ago China's position paper on Ukraine calls for ceasefire, 'gradual de-escalation' and negotiations 7h ago Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk football team qualifies for knockout stages of Europe League 8h ago Russia 'in talks with Chinese manufacturer about buying drones' – Der Spiegel 8h ago Moldova dismisses Russian accusations of Ukrainian invasion plans 8h ago A look at military casualties in the war so far 8h ago China abstains from UN vote on Russian withdrawal 9h ago ‘We will rebuild’ says Zelenskiy on anniversary of invasion 9h ago Welcome and summary Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature 15m ago 07. 57 GMT The British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said the notion that China could supply arms to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would not help resolve the conflict, an outcome he was confident China wanted. “It can’t help the peace if China effectively supplies the one nation that has broken the international law on the sovereignty of Ukraine and been inflicting war crimes,” Wallace told Sky News on Friday when asked about reports China could supply weapons to Russia .
“But I’m also confident that China is pretty clear that it wants this (war) to stop,” Reuters reports he added. Updated at 08. 03 GMT 36m ago 07.
36 GMT Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said on Friday more talks between parliamentary groups were needed before Hungary’s ratification of Finland and Sweden’s Nato membership, which lawmakers will start debating next Wednesday. Reuters reports that, speaking on public radio, Orbán said he had asked lawmakers of his nationalist Fidesz party to support their bid, adding however that some deputies were “not very enthusiastic” about the expansion and sought further discussions on the matter. Orbán added that in the end, it should be made clear that Hungary supports Finland and Sweden’s Nato membership, but said Turkey’s concerns regarding Sweden’s entry should also be heard, otherwise the expansion effort could fail.
“Regarding Turkey, they are also our allies, and therefore we need to hear their voice,” Orbán said. Ankara claims Stockholm has harboured what Turkey calls members of terrorist groups and recently indicated it would approve only Finland for Nato membership at present. Updated at 08.
04 GMT 40m ago 07. 32 GMT The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko , has posted to the Telegram messaging app to mark a year since the beginning of the war. He writes: .
css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Friends! We have been living in a new reality for a year. Tragic and psychologically exhausting.
But we are fighting, we believe in ourselves and our country. Therefore, we will overcome everything and win. A year ago, Russia’s resolution of this barbaric war seemed unreal to most Ukrainians.
But the capital was preparing for a possible offensive. Volunteers had joined the ranks of territorial defence [and] our military helped protect and hold the capital. The city’s critical infrastructure worked despite shelling and the real threat of street fighting.
Hospitals received the wounded from the suburbs, where fierce battles were fought. Grocery stores and community pharmacies stayed open. Businesses and caring citizens of Kyiv provided support to those who needed it.
42m ago 07. 30 GMT Photojournalists Alessio Mamo , Anastasia Taylor-Lind , Ed Ram and Anastasia Vlasova have covered the situation in Ukraine since the Russian invasion last February. My colleague Lorenzo Tondo spoke to them about their experiences for this photo essay.
A year of war in Ukraine as witnessed by Guardian photographers – photo essay Read more 44m ago 07. 28 GMT Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne reports that overnight the city of Slovyansk in Donetsk was shelled by Russian forces. It says “private houses were damaged by shelling” but there were no reports of any injuries as a result.
52m ago 07. 20 GMT Former British prime minister Gordon Brown writes for the Guardian today, saying that ‘ we owe it to the people of Ukraine to bring Vladimir Putin to trial for war crimes ’: Special tribunals have been promoted by the US before. Exactly 30 years ago, with the US’s endorsement, the UN security council created the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
One year later, it supported the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda. An agreement between the government of Sierra Leone and the UN led to an independent special court and, with the assistance of the UN, special tribunals were created for Cambodia and Lebanon with US support. But the most obvious parallel is the decision made by nine European allies that met in London in 1942 and drafted a resolution on German aggression, which led, at the war’s end, and with American support, to the creation of the international military tribunal and the trials of Nazi war criminals.
The trial of Japanese war criminals followed. Those who say prosecutions like this do not work should remember not only the verdicts of Nuremberg and Tokyo, but also that the notorious former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, languishes in a British prison after a 50-year sentence was imposed upon him in 2012 for atrocities committed on his instruction in Sierra Leone. A similar verdict was likely to be imposed on the butcherous Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, who was being tried in The Hague for war crimes when he died of a heart attack in his prison cell.
And war tribunals can sentence criminals in their absence, making it difficult for them ever to travel abroad again. Read more here: Gordon Brown – We owe it to the people of Ukraine to bring Vladimir Putin to trial for war crimes We owe it to the people of Ukraine to bring Vladimir Putin to trial for war crimes | Gordon Brown Read more 1h ago 07. 16 GMT First Edition , the Guardian’s daily briefing email, today features Archie Bland speaking to Patrick Wintour , our diplomatic editor, about the anniversary of the war and the way the world has responded to it.
Here is an excerpt: “Global south” is a “rather overused phrase”, Patrick said. It refers to such a varied group of countries – from India’s 1. 4 billion people to African states with populations in the low millions – that any attempt to view them as uniform is bound to fall short.
Still, it is clear that most of these countries are sceptical of joining western support of Ukraine , and see the war as a proxy conflict between world powers with an eye on the US’s history of military interventions and European imperialism as context rather than a necessary moral crusade. The recent debate between allies over whether or not to provide Ukraine with tanks – which ended with a deal to send US and German-made armour and train Ukrainian soldiers to use it – is a decent miniature of the larger pattern in the west since the war began: serious disputes over the right approach, but agreement in the end. This week, Patrick said, Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine and the Munich security conference have reinforced that narrative.
“The thing I drew from Munich, and then the Biden visit, is the degree to which the west has remained united in the face of the likelihood of a long war. The signs of fissure that we might have expected, with France and Germany as reluctant warriors in opposition to the Baltic nations, haven’t really materialised. I don’t think there’s an influential ‘peace party’ operating in Europe .
” Read more here: Friday briefing – Ukraine’s allies are settling in for the long haul as the war enters its second year Friday briefing: Ukraine’s allies are settling in for the long haul as the war enters its second year Read more 1h ago 07. 11 GMT Paris lit up the Eiffel Tower in the blue and yellow colours of the Ukraine flag on Thursday night in a show of support to Ukraine and to mark the first anniversary of the war. Ukrainian ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko , spoke at the event.
A couple of pictures of how it unfolded can be seen below. The Eiffel Tower lit in the colours of the Ukrainian flag in a show of support to Ukraine in Paris, France. Photograph: Stevens Tomas/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock Ukrainian ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, speaks during an event to mark the first anniversary of the war in Paris.
Photograph: Stevens Tomas/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock 1h ago 06. 53 GMT Over the course of the last year, Putin has “met the bravery of Ukraine and the iron will of nations everywhere,” Joe Biden has said as the world marks the anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Biden also said that Nato, which Putin thought “would fracture and divide” is “stronger and more unified than ever before”.
One year ago, President Putin thought he would swiftly take Kyiv. Then he met the bravery of Ukraine and the iron will of nations everywhere. — President Biden (@POTUS) February 23, 2023 1h ago 06.
49 GMT In another one of the conflict’s defining images, the bridge that linked Crimea to Russia burns after a truck bomb exploded on 8 October. The Kerch Bridge was a personal Putin prestige project and the hit came the day after his 70th birthday. The blast destroyed the road into Crimea and left the railway link in flames.
Ukraine did not directly claim responsibility for the attack at the time, but s senior Ukrainian official posted a “happy birthday” message with images of destruction, and the country’s post office revealed – within hours – designs for a commemorative stamp, showing the bridge ablaze, raising questions about whether the explosion had been anticipated. This photo taken on 8 October 2022 shows black smoke billowing from a fire on the Kerch Bridge that links Crimea to Russia. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Updated at 07.
05 GMT 2h ago 06. 34 GMT Wagner claims to have taken control of Berkhivka village north-west of Bakhmut Russia’s Wagner group of mercenaries has taken full control of the Ukrainian village of Berkhivka, just north-west of Bakhmut, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said a few minutes ago on Telegram. The Guardian has not verified this independently.
2h ago 06. 31 GMT How will the war in Ukraine develop during 2023? The Guardian has asked a panel of experts to weigh in. Russian investigative journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan say we are in for a long fight.
. css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} This war is going to last for a very long time – that feeling dawned on Russians at the end of 2022.
Most of those who wanted to leave the country have already left. The rest, the thinking part of the population, will try to adjust to the circumstances in a state where even children are subject to compulsory propaganda in schools. In 2023, the added feeling will be fear of those who enthusiastically went to war and now are getting back.
Many will be angry and frustrated, and capable of further violence. People will switch to a quiet survival strategy – something familiar to Russians who remember the Soviet Union. There will be an exodus into domestic life, to quiet conversations in kitchens, to a habit of being cautious about what you say publicly and on the phone or on social media.
In short, keeping one’s head down. The body bags arriving in Russian cities and towns will not add to sympathy for the plight of Ukrainians. The rest of the panel’s responses are here: How will the war in Ukraine develop during 2023? Our panel look ahead Read more 2h ago 06.
31 GMT Samantha Lock Buildings and monuments across Ukraine have been illuminated in blue and yellow lights to commemorate the victims of Russia’s invasion. In Kyiv, the main post office was lit up overnight during a light projection by Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter. Hofstetter is performing an art tour of the cities of Ukraine with illumination of buildings and monuments commemorating the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine.
Ukrainians look as the main post office is lit up during a light projection by Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter in Kyiv. Photograph: Vladimir Sindeyeve/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock The coat of arms of Ukraine, a blue shield with a gold trident, seen illuminated on buildings in Kyiv. Photograph: Vladimir Sindeyeve/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock Buildings and monuments across Ukraine have been illuminated in blue and yellow lights to commemorate the victims of Russia’s invasion.
Photograph: Vladimir Sindeyeve/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock Updated at 06. 32 GMT 2h ago 06. 16 GMT 'Russian leadership likely pursuing a long-term operation', says UK MoD The UK Ministry of Defence has posted its daily update.
Today, it tracks Russia’s changing tactics since 2014, as it changed from subversion to invasion. “In recent weeks, Russia has likely changed its approach again. Its campaign now likely primarily seeks to degrade the Ukrainian military, rather than being focused on seizing substantial new territory,” the ministry says.
“The Russian leadership is likely pursuing a long-term operation”. Here is the full update: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.
5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Since 2014 Russia’s strategic goal in Ukraine has highly likely been consistent: to control its neighbour. Over 2014-2021, it pursued this objective through subversion, by fomenting an undeclared war in the Donbas, and by annexing Crimea. On 24 February 2022, Russia pivoted to a new approach and launched a full-scale invasion which attempted to seize the whole country and depose its government.
By April 2022, Russia realised this had failed, and focused on expanding and formalising its rule over the Donbas and the south. It has made slow and extremely costly progress. In recent weeks, Russia has likely changed its approach again.
Its campaign now likely primarily seeks to degrade the Ukrainian military, rather than being focused on seizing substantial new territory. The Russian leadership is likely pursuing a long-term operation where they bank that Russia’s advantages in po
