Closing Summary
It is midnight in Kyiv. It has been a busy day for Ukraine as the country marked its one-year anniversary since the Russian invasion. Here is a wrap-up of today’s developments:
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will provide additional military support to Ukraine. On Friday, Trudeau said that Canada will provide four additional Leopard 2 main battle tanks. The additional tanks will bring up the total number of tanks provided by Canada to eight.
The US has announced that it will offer over $10 billion in assistance to Ukraine. Blinken said that the funds are crucial to Ukraine and ensure that the Ukrainian government can continue to meet “the critical needs of its citizens, including healthcare, education, and emergency services.”
A ‘people’s court’ has endorsed an indictment against Russian president Vladimir Putin for the crime of aggression and called for his arrest. After a week of hearings in The Hague, a panel of three international legal experts issued the order and called on the international community “to take every step necessary to ensure that a court with legal powers issues an indictment against president Vladimir Putin and takes appropriate measures to arrest the perpetrator and put him on trial in an official Ukraine tribunal as soon as possible,” the AP reports.
The European Union has promised additional support for millions of Ukrainian refugees that have fled their country since Russia’s invasion one year ago. Speaking to the Associated Press on Friday, EU Commission vice president Margaritis Schinas said, “As far as (refugees from) Ukraine are concerned, the figures are stable. “If it happens, we are ready, but it doesn’t seem to be the case for the time being,” he said, referring to a potential increase in refugees.
US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has released a statement marking the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in which he pledged American solidarity. “One year ago, Vladimir Putin committed his greatest mistake by underestimating the resolve of Ukraine. Since then, we have seen bravery, patriotism, and valor personified by President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people,” Schumer wrote.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has declared victory to be inevitable as his country marked the anniversary of the moment it was invaded by Russian troops. In a national address earlier on Friday, Zelenskiy told Ukrainians they had been proven invincible over “a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity.”
The Group of Seven (G7) has announced a range of further economic, military and financial sanctions against Russia. The group announced it would take unprecedented measures in order to weaken Russia, promising measures against Russian diamond exports. It warned that third countries that help Russia evade sanctions would face “severe costs” and is understood to be setting up an “enforcement coordination mechanism” to stop evasion of G7 sanctions already imposed.
The UK said it was banning the export of every item Russia has been found using on the battlefield to date, a list covering hundreds of goods, including aircraft parts, radio equipment and electronic components. The British government is also imposing sanctions on senior executives at Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom, who Ukraine says are complicit in the seizure and forced nationality change of the staff of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and their children.
Sweden will send up to 10 Leopard tanks and anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine, the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and defence minister, Pål Jonson, said today. “The Swedish tanks reinforce the Leopard 2 contribution that other European countries make. Coordination of support is ongoing with international partners donating Leopard 2 or other tanks,” the government said.
President Zelenskiy has welcomed some elements of a Chinese proposal for a ceasefire in Russia’s war on Ukraine. China’s government called for peace talks while urging all parties to avoid nuclear escalation and end attacks on civilians, in a statement which appeared to maintain Beijing’s stance that the west was fuelling the conflict and which analysts dismissed as anodyne. “China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad,” Zelenskiy said.
Russia appreciated China’s plan to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and was open to achieving the goals of what it calls its “special military operation” through political and diplomatic means, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. However, this would also mean recognising “new territorital realities” in Ukraine, Zakharova said, referring to Russia’s unilateral annexation of four Ukrainian regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - as well as of Crimea.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we close the blog for today. Thank you for following along.
Canada to provide additional military support to Ukraine
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will provide additional military support to Ukraine.
On Friday, Trudeau said that Canada will provide four additional Leopard 2 main battle tanks, CTV News reports.
The additional tanks will bring up the total number of tanks provided by Canada to eight.
Canada will also provide an armoured recovery vehicle, as well as over 5,000 rounds of ammunition.
