Closing summary
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago, giving the first official figure for more than a year. Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv that he could not disclose the number of wounded because it would help Russian military planning, Reuters reported.
Russian forces will attempt to conduct another offensive in Ukraine in late May or summer, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday. “We will prepare for their assault. Their assault that began on 8 October has not brought any results, I think,” Zelenskiy told a news conference.
Ukraine has a “clear” plan for a new counteroffensive against Russian forces, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, adding that he could not disclose details publicly. Zelenskiy told a news conference in the capital Kyiv that troop rotations were critically important for the war effort and that Ukraine needed to better prepare its reserve forces.
Some 20 European leaders will gather in Paris on Monday to send Russian president Vladimir Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine and counter the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is bound to win a war now entering its third year, France said. French president Emmanuel Macron has invited his European counterparts to the Elysee palace for a working meeting announced at short notice because of what his advisers say is an escalation in Russian aggression over the past few weeks.
Several ministers also spoke, including Kyiv’s defence minister, who said that some 50% of Western arms deliveries to Ukraine do not arrive on time; the country’s interior minister affirmed that not a single weapon has crossed the border from Ukraine into the European Union during two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion; while the strategic industries minister said that Ukraine tripled its weapons production last year and 500 companies are now working in the country’s defence sector.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the West on Sunday to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and to send interest already accrued on frozen funds to Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces had taken a more advantageous position near Ukraine’s Avdiivka and rebuffed seven Ukrainian counterattacks.
Andriy Yermak, President Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said that Russia could be invited to a peace summit if the Kremlin “want[s] to genuinely end this war”.
Some 160 tons of Ukrainian grain was destroyed at a Polish railway station in an act of “impunity and irresponsibility” as Polish farmers protested against EU regulations, including what they say is unfair competition from their war-torn neighbour’s cheaper produce.
Updated
Serbia has sent a note of protest after Croatia’s foreign minister described president Aleksandar Vucic as a Russian “satellite” in the Balkans.
It was the latest spat between the two neighbours, which have been at odds for most of the time since the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, AP reported.
Croatian foreign minister Gordan Grlic-Radman told N1 television on Saturday that Mr Vucic must decide which side he is on, Russia or the European Union, “because it is impossible and uncomfortable sitting on two chairs at the same time”.
“He shouldn’t have a big dilemma,” Grlic-Radman said, saying that Vucic can remain Moscow’s ally but “malign” Russian influence that could undermine the stability of the Western Balkans will not be allowed.
The populist leader and other Serbian officials reacted with anger.
“The Croatian minister not only brutally interferes in the internal affairs of Serbia, but as usual he lies and insults the Serbian people and threatens its citizens,” Vucic said on Instagram.
“Grlic-Radman is right about one thing, maybe I am someone’s satellite ... but I have never been anyone’s servant, which cannot be said for Grlic-Radman.”
In its protest note, the Serbian foreign ministry said that it expects that in the future, Croatian officials “will refrain from statements that represent interference in the internal affairs of Serbia, and will lead a policy of reconciliation and good-neighbourly relations between the two states.”
Some 20 European leaders will gather in Paris on Monday to send Russian president Vladimir Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine and counter the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is bound to win a war now entering its third year, France said.
French president Emmanuel Macron has invited his European counterparts to the Elysee palace for a working meeting announced at short notice because of what his advisers say is an escalation in Russian aggression over the past few weeks.
“We want to send Putin a very clear message, that he won’t win in Ukraine,” a presidential adviser told reporters in a briefing. “Our goal is to crush this idea he wants us to believe that he would be somehow winning.”
Russian forces will attempt to conduct another offensive in Ukraine in late May or summer, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.
“We will prepare for their assault. Their assault that began on 8 October has not brought any results, I think,” Zelenskiy told a news conference.
Ukraine has a “clear” plan for a new counteroffensive against Russian forces, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, adding that he could not disclose details publicly.
Zelenskiy told a news conference in the capital Kyiv that troop rotations were critically important for the war effort and that Ukraine needed to better prepare its reserve forces.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Ukraine had reached the hardest stage for maintaining unity which was crucial for the war effort against Russia.
“Now is the most difficult moment for our unity, and if we all fall apart, from the outside and God forbid inside, then this will be the weakest moment. It has not happened yet,” the Ukrainian leader told a news conference in Kyiv.
Zelenskiy says 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed since Russia invaded
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago, giving the first official figure for more than a year.
Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv that he could not disclose the number of wounded because it would help Russian military planning, Reuters reported.
“31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000 ... Putin is lying there ... But nevertheless, this is a big loss for us.”
Ukraine has not put a number to its military losses since the end of 2022, when presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the invasion.
Russia does not disclose military losses, which it regards as secret.
Updated
Summary of the day
Here are all the key developments in the Ukraine-Russia war so far today:
A televised conference in Kyiv is being held to coincide with the two year anniversary of the war. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he hoped to be able to present a blueprint for peace to Russia in a summit in Switzerland in spring.
Several ministers also spoke, including Kyiv’s defence minister, who said that some 50% of Western arms deliveries to Ukraine do not arrive on time; the country’s interior minister affirmed that not a single weapon has crossed the border from Ukraine into the European Union during two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion; while the strategic industries minister said that Ukraine tripled its weapons production last year and 500 companies are now working in the country’s defence sector.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the West on Sunday to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and to send interest already accrued on frozen funds to Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces had taken a more advantageous position near Ukraine’s Avdiivka and rebuffed seven Ukrainian counterattacks.
Andriy Yermak, President Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said that Russia could be invited to a peace summit if the Kremlin “want[s] to genuinely end this war”.
Some 160 tons of Ukrainian grain was destroyed at a Polish railway station in an act of “impunity and irresponsibility” as Polish farmers protested against EU regulations, including what they say is unfair competition from their war-torn neighbour’s cheaper produce.
I’m handing over to my colleague, Tom Ambrose, who will keep you updated – thanks for following.
President Zelenskiy hopes to present peace plan to Russia in spring
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is speaking at the Ukraine Year 2024 conference held today to coincide with two years since Russia’s invasion.
The key lines so far are:
He hopes a peace summit will take place in Switzerland in the spring
Russia will be presented with a peace plan prepared by Ukraine and its partners in advance of the summit
Kyiv’s victory depends on western support
He feels positive about the supply of long-range missiles from partners
He is certain US congress will approve aid for Ukraine – “they know that we need support within a month,” he said
It’s important to maintain unity with Poland, but Ukraine will defend its businesses
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed in occupied territories, but disclosing exact numbers would benefit Russia
31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, and many more wounded
Updated
Ukrainian authorities uncovered 47 Russian spy networks operating inside the country last year, a senior security official said on Sunday.
Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, made the remark during a televised conference in Kyiv, adding that more than 2,000 suspected “traitors” have been arrested since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began.
For Ukraine to retake territory occupied by Russia, the United States needs to deliver the aid package that passed by massive bipartisan vote in the Senate, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has told NBC News.
Speaking on the Meet the Press show, he said:
Of course, Ukraine can win. Of course, Ukraine has already succeeded, militarily, in one of the most profound objectives it had, which was to keep the country from falling into Russian hands. It has already done that. And Ukraine can go further in retaking territory that Russia has occupied, ensuring Russia fails, and ensuring Ukraine prevails.
But it can only so, if it has the tools that it needs. And that is why the United States needs to deliver the aid package that passed on a massive bipartisan vote in the Senate. The House needs to step up and pass that bill.
Well, it comes down to basic arithmetic. We need money to be able to provide the weapons to Ukraine. We don’t have the money. Only Congress can provide the money. So that’s the reality. And that’s why the urgency of Congress passing this bill is so profound.
And it’s why this ultimately comes down to a simple decision from one man, Speaker Johnson. If there were an up or down vote in the House, this would pass on a bipartisan basis. So Speaker Johnson needs to decide, will he allow that vote to go forward?
If he does, Ukraine will get what he needs. If he doesn’t, then the United States will not have the resources necessary to give Ukraine the kinds of tools and capacities that it needs. That’s what this comes down to.
Updated
Some 160 tons of Ukrainian grain was destroyed at a Polish railway station in an act of “impunity and irresponsibility”, a senior Ukrainian official has said.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov posted on X along with photos of mounds of grain spilled out from train wagons.
These pictures show 160 tons of destroyed Ukrainian grain. The grain was in transit to the port of Gdansk and then to other countries. The fourth case of vandalism at Polish railway stations. The fourth case of impunity and irresponsibility.
These pictures show 160 tons of destroyed Ukrainian grain. The grain was in transit to the port of Gdansk and then to other countries.
— Oleksandr Kubrakov (@OlKubrakov) February 25, 2024
The fourth case of vandalism at Polish railway stations. The fourth case of impunity and irresponsibility.
How long will the government and… pic.twitter.com/fMVdtBgl3i
AFP has more detail on the background:
Polish farmers blocked a major highway into Germany in the latest such protest against EU regulations and taxes, including what they view as unfair competition from Ukraine’s cheaper produce.
Farmers across Europe have been protesting for weeks over what they say are excessively restrictive environmental rules, competition from cheap imports from outside the European Union and low incomes.
On Sunday, farmers from Poland blocked the A2 motorway near Slubice, in the east on the border with Germany.
On Monday, EU agriculture ministers are due to meet in Brussels to discuss new European Commission proposals aiming to change regulations at the heart of the discontent, for example reducing the number of checks on produce.
The farmers also blocked crossing points at Poland’s border with non-EU member Ukraine border to denounce what they say is unfair competition from their war-torn neighbour’s cheaper produce.
On Friday, Polish officials snubbed a delegation led by Ukraine’s prime minister seeking to resolve tensions caused by weeks-long Polish farmer protests at the shared border.
Polish authorities said they had never agreed to a border meeting over the demonstrations, which Ukraine says threaten its exports and are holding up deliveries of crucial weapons for its war against Russia, now entering its third year.
Updated
Andriy Yermak, President Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, today said that Russia could be invited to a peace summit if the Kremlin “want[s] to genuinely end this war”.
Yermak suggested that a future meeting in Switzerland to discuss a peace deal could include Russia at some point.
There can be a situation in which we together invite representatives of the Russian Federation, where they will be presented with the plan in case whoever is representing the aggressor country at that time will want to genuinely end this war and return to a just peace.
Ukraine has maintained that a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory would be a requirement before any talks could begin.
Russia has previously labelled Ukraine peace proposals as “absurd”.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, toured front-line combat posts with defence minister Rustan Umerov on Sunday, Associated Press reports:
They heard from front-line troops and “thoroughly analysed” the battlefield situation on their visit, Syrskyi said in a Telegram update. He did not specify where exactly he and Umerov went, but said that “the situation is difficult” for Ukrainian troops and “needs constant control” along many stretches of the front.
Ukraine has suffered setbacks on the battlefield, having lost the strategic eastern city of Avdiivka following intense battles this month, and as military aid for Kyiv hangs in the balance in the US Congress.
Syrskyi earlier this month replaced Ukraine’s top military commander, Valerii Zaluzhny, in the most significant shakeup of the top brass since the start of the full-scale war, after a long-expected counteroffensive last summer failed to produce major breakthroughs. Russia still controls roughly a quarter of the country.
Russian shelling and rocket strikes on Sunday continued to pummel Ukraine’s south and east, as local Ukrainian officials reported that at least two civilians were killed and a further eight suffered wounds in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces.
Summary
Here are all the key developments from the last few hours in Ukraine:
A televised conference in Kyiv is being held to coincide with the two year anniversary of the war. Several ministers have spoken so far, including Kyiv’s defence minister, who said that some 50% of Western arms deliveries to Ukraine do not arrive on time; the country’s interior minister affirmed that not a single weapon has crossed the border from Ukraine into the European Union during two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion; while the strategic industries minister said that Ukraine tripled its weapons production last year and 500 companies are now working in the country’s defence sector.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the West on Sunday to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and to send interest already accrued on frozen funds to Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces had taken a more advantageous position near Ukraine’s Avdiivka and rebuffed seven Ukrainian counterattacks.
Updated
Pope Francis has called for a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine that would lead to a just and lasting peace.
Pope Francis said during his weekly Angelus message:
So many victims, wounded, destruction, anguish, and tears in a period that is becoming terribly long and whose end is not in sight. It is a war that not only devastates that region but also unleashes global waves of hate and fear”, Pope Francis said during his weekly Angelus message.
I plead for that little bit of humanity to be found to create the conditions for a diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace.
Ukraine expects to receive $11.8 billion in economic support this year from the United States, its prime minister said on Sunday.
Denys Shmyhal said during a televised conference in Kyiv that he was hopeful that US lawmakers would approve long-awaited economic and military aid.
Russian forces have taken a more advantageous position near Ukraine’s Avdiivka and have rebuffed seven Ukrainian counterattacks, Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Sunday.
On Friday the ministry said that Russian forces had advanced further to the west after taking control of Avdiivka.
Reuters reports:
Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had pushed back Ukrainian forces near Klishchiivka, Dyleyevka and Kurdiumivka in the Donetsk region and taken better positions near Avdiivka which fell to Russia earlier this month.
It said:
In the Donetsk direction, units of the Southern grouping of troops improved the situation along the front line and defeated formations of the 22nd, 28th and 92nd mechanised brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Klishchiivka, Dyleyevka and Kurdiumivka.
In the Avdiivka direction, units of the Centre group of forces occupied more advantageous lines and positions, and also defeated manpower and equipment of the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 107th Air Defence Brigade.
The ministry said Russian troops had repelled seven Ukrainian counter-attacks in the area. A total of 77 Ukrainian drones were destroyed, the ministry said.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield accounts from either side in the war.
Updated
50% of Western arms deliveries to Ukraine do not arrive on time, says defence minister
Some 50% of Western arms deliveries to Ukraine do not arrive on time, Kyiv’s defence minister said on Sunday.
Rustem Umerov made the remark during a televised conference in Kyiv featuring a number of Ukrainian ministers one day after Russia’s full-scale invasion reached its two-year mark.
Ukraine, which is struggling with an ammunition shortage, has for months said that Western aid is slow to reach it and this has real consequences for its two-year fight against Russia, including loss of life.
Umerov said in the forum arranged to coincide with the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its neighbour:
At the moment, commitment does not constitute delivery.
Fifty percent of commitments are not delivered on time.
We do everything possible and impossible but without timely supply it harms us.
Umerov argued this put Ukraine at a further disadvantage “in the mathematics of war” against Russia, which the West has said is increasingly building a war economy.
Umerov said that delayed aid will mean Kyiv will “lose people, lose territories”, especially given Russia’s “air superiority”.
Updated
The West should seize more Russian assets and send interest to Ukraine, says UK PM
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the West on Sunday to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and to send interest already accrued on frozen funds to Ukraine.
On the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, the UK leader said Western allies must go “further” with their sanctions to “shake” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s belief “that he can simply wait us out”.
Sunak wrote in an article in the Sunday Times:
We must be bolder in seizing the hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets.
That starts with taking the billions in interest these assets are collecting and sending it to Ukraine instead.
And then, with the G7, we must find lawful ways to seize the assets themselves and get those funds to Ukraine too.
The prime minister’s comments follow G7 leaders pledging Saturday to explore “all possible avenues by which immobilised Russian sovereign assets could be made use of to support Ukraine”.
The grouping of advanced economies confirmed Russia’s already seized sovereign assets will remain frozen “until Russia pays for the damage it caused to Ukraine”.
Ukraine needs almost half a trillion dollars to cover the reconstruction costs of Russia’s invasion, the World Bank, European Union, United Nations and the Ukrainian government said in a joint report earlier this month.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has said that the confiscated Russian assets should foot most of the bill. Kyiv wants the West to unlock around $300 billion of frozen Russian assets to fund the rebuild of its cities, roads, bridges and energy facilities destroyed or damaged by Russia’s two-year assault.
Updated
No weapon has crossed from Ukraine into EU in two years, says interior minister
Not a single weapon has crossed the border from Ukraine into the European Union during two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s interior minister said on Sunday.
Ihor Klymenko made the statement during a televised conference in Kyiv.
Updated
Ukraine tripled weapons production last year, industries minister says
Ukraine tripled its weapons production last year and 500 companies are now working in the country’s defence sector, Kyiv’s strategic industries minister said on Sunday.
Oleksandr Kamyshin said during a televised address in Kyiv that the figure included 100 state and 400 private companies and that Ukraine this year plans “to considerably increase ammunition production.”
Kyiv is searching for ways to strengthen its defences against Moscow’s two-year-old invasion, including by boosting domestic arms production and innovation.
In a separate address, Ukraine’s digital minister, Mykhailov Fedorov, said 90% of the drones used on the battlefield against Russian forces were produced in Ukraine.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming out of Ukraine:
In a new bookshop opened in Kyiv on the street where Putin planned a conquerors’ parade two years ago, the mood is sombre.
The Guardian’s foreign correspondent, Luke Harding writes:
There is a coffee bar, a space for literary events and thousands of books displayed on the ground floor and in the large brick-lined basement. Signs point customers to sections: novels, history, fan fiction and foreign literature.
Welcome to Sens, Ukraine’s biggest bookshop in the heart of Kyiv. With unlikely timing, it opened its doors last week, two years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion.
Putin had planned a triumphal military parade down Khreshchatyk, the capital’s main boulevard where Sens is found, next to the office of mayor Vitali Klitschko. The plan failed.
According to Oleksii Erinchak, the 33-year-old founder of Sens, the national mood is no longer one of giddy optimism. Instead, he said, it is more “realistic”. And inevitably gloomier.
Customers browsing the shelves and sipping espresso said they believed Ukraine would prevail. But they admitted to occasional feelings of despair.
Read the full story here:
Polls have opened today in Belarus’ tightly controlled parliamentary and local elections that are expected to keep the country’s authoritarian leader, despite calls for a boycott from the opposition.
AFP reports:
President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for nearly 30 years, accuses the West of trying to use the vote to undermine his government and “destabilise” the nation of 9.5 million people.
Lukashenko has relied on subsidies and political support from his main ally, Russia, to survive the protests. He allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Most candidates belong to the four officially registered parties: Belaya Rus, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Party of Labor and Justice. Those parties all support Lukashenko’s policies. About a dozen other parties were denied registration last year.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is in exile in neighboring Lithuania after challenging Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election, urged voters to boycott the elections.
Tsikhanouskaya said:
There are no people on the ballot who would offer real changes because the regime only has allowed puppets convenient for it to take part. We are calling to boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The leaders of G7 countries have pledged support for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia after a virtual meeting Saturday on the second anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which ranks as the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
After the meeting, the G7 leaders didn’t make any public statement about further military aid, but urged “the approval of additional support to close Ukraine’s remaining budget gap for 2024”.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military says it has shot down 16 out of 18 drone attacks over eight regions across central, western and southern Ukraine, including the capital region, Kyiv’s military said on Sunday on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reports.
More on those stories shortly. In other news:
The leaders of G7 countries also demanded after the virtual meeting on Saturday that Russia “fully clarify the circumstances” around the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, after the most prominent critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin died in an Arctic prison last week.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed western leaders to Kyiv on the anniversary, declaring that Vladimir Putin “must lose absolutely everything”. Four western leaders, including the prime ministers of Italy, Canada, and Belgium, arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to show solidarity with Ukraine on the second anniversary of the war.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Belgium’s Alexander De Croo and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, travelled to the Ukrainian capital together overnight by train from neighbouring Poland, the Italian government said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had signed a bilateral security agreement with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv. Canada joins Italy, Britain, Germany, France and Denmark in concluding a 10-year security deal with Kyiv. The agreements are intended to shore up Ukraine’s security until it can reach its aim of becoming a member of the western military alliance, Nato.
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Saturday, said Germany was still discussing whether to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine. “Of course, everything (in regards to military support) we are delivering is too little,” she said at a press conference after paying an unannounced visit to the country.
The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, a spokesperson has confirmed. The spokesperson for the opposition politician, who died while in prison last week, said funeral arrangements are still to be determined. It is “unclear” whether the authorities will interfere, they added.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, had demanded that Russian authorities release his body for burial and accused a “demonic” Russian president Vladimir Putin of “torturing” his corpse. In a six minute video posted on YouTube, Navalnaya accused Putin of holding her husband’s body “hostage”, and questioned Putin’s often-professed Christian faith, Reuters reported.
A fire broke out and was extinguished at Russian steelmaker NLMK’s main plant, the regional governor said on Saturday. Preliminary data indicated the fire at the Novolipetsk Steel plant was caused by a drone, the Lipetsk regional governor, Igor Artamonov, said on Telegram, without mentioning Ukraine, Reuters reports. There were no casualties, Artamonov said.
Hundreds of people gathered at Marble Arch in central London to protest against Russia’s invasion. Demonstrators waved Ukrainian flags, with others wrapping them around their shoulders, PA Media reported. Other protesters bore signs urging Russia to “stop the war”, labelling Russian president Vladimir Putin a “terrorist” and urging international powers to offer more support. Demonstrators also gathered in other cities across Europe, including in Germany and Italy.
Russia is unlikely to take part at the outset of a high-level Ukraine peace conference which neutral Switzerland plans to host in the coming months, Swiss president Viola Amherd was quoted as saying by a newspaper on Saturday. Amherd’s interview with the Neue Zuercher Zeitung daily was published a few hours after Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis told the United Nations that Berne aimed to hold the conference “by this summer” after the idea was floated in January.
UK foreign secretary David Cameron warned allies in the United Nations against “fatigue” and “compromise” over Russia’s war in Ukraine as he urged countries including the US to keep up support for Kyiv. The UK foreign secretary said the world must “recognise the cost of giving up” in a speech in New York on the eve of the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, PA Media reported.
The UK has pledged £8.5m in humanitarian funding allocations to the Red Cross Movement and the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. David Cameron said: “Ukrainians are bravely defending their land against Russia’s brutal invasion, but the past two years of war have had a tragic impact on millions of people across Ukraine. Families have been separated, towns and villages decimated, and vital civilian infrastructure destroyed.
Protesters said they dumped two tons of dung outside the home of the Russian ambassador to Poland on Saturday, as they marked the second anniversary of the invasion. Activists put a bloodied Russian flag with the letter “Z” on the pile of manure and stuck a sign into it that said “Russia = shit! We don’t want you in EU! Get out!”, pictures of the protest in Konstancin-Jeziorna, seen by Reuters, showed. The town near Warsaw is where the ambassador lives.
