The Eve Of The First Anniversary Of The Invasion

The world braces itself for fresh Russian attacks

Russia believed that it could take Ukraine within weeks, if not months. They did not count on Zelenskyy publicly asking for weapons and aid, and that the West would respond. A year on, we have the UN Secretary General (Guterres) stating that Russia’s actions are an ‘affront’ to the world. The UN have been weak, and even the Black Sea Grain Initiative has fallen by the wayside as Russia made up their own rules and have stalled the program.

Stoltenberg for NATO is usually a fence sitter, so when he has said there is intelligence to suggest that China will supply Russia with weapons, then there is cause for concern. The man barely says anything of worth that people don’t already know, so for him to say this means he has seen credible evidence despite China claiming they are not looking to supply weapons to Russia.

By now, the useless UN keeps holding resolutions that aren’t binding, but countries need to pick a side now after a year. Remaining neutral isn’t an option.

Day 365 (23 February 2023)

• A 10th package of sanctions against Russia was not agreed by the EU, and it had been anticipated that the package would be announced before the anniversary of the invasion. One suspects Hungary and perhaps Bulgaria as the possible opposing votes.

  

  

• The World Boxing Championship will permit Russian and Belarusians to compete. As a result, Ukraine and 9 other countries will boycott the event.

• Leaked documents from the Kremlin claim to have a plan to take control of Belarus by 2030.

  

  
  

• The corruption clean up continues as the former infrastructure minister (Andriy Pyvovarsky) has been charged with abuse of power in the corruption case.

• US intelligence states that they have information on China, potentially transferring weapons to Russia, in order to support them in the invasion of Ukraine. This will be discussed in the UN Security Council meeting to be held on 24 February 2023.

  

• There is another UN resolution that is to be voted on to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine with a call for peace. The resolution is non-binding unenforceable only has political value. Three-quarters voted in favour with China and India abstaining. In total 32 countries abstained, with 7 who opposed the resolution, and 141 countries that approved the resolution. Russia, Mali, and Eritrea were among those who voted against the resolution.

  

• At the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Austria, a number of delegates walked out when the Russian representatives began to speak. One also held a Ukrainian flag behind the Russian speakers. Both Ukraine and Lithuania have boycotted meetings in protest. Austria has also come under criticism for providing visas for the 18 man Russian delegation, yet Austria have stated that they were legally obliged to. More Austrians are criticising the neutral status of the country and are petitioning for it to be re-evaluated. Last year, the UK and Poland refused visas for the meetings, but Austria said they did so because the OSCE headquarters were in Vienna.

  

• Latvia also expressed anger at the Russians being permitted to attend the meeting:

  It's a disgrace that this delegation is here, particularly the delegation that consists of members who are sanctions individuals, who voted to annex independent countries, territories-Donbass, Kherson, Zaporozhzia, and Luhansk.

  Those are the principles this institution was vouched to protect and guard, and we're sitting like nothing happened., (Rihards, Kols, chairman, foreign affairs committee of Latvian parliament.)

  

• Spain has stated they will increase the number of Leopard 2 tanks that they will send to Ukraine from 6 to 10.

• Finland will also send additional equipment, comprising of three separate to de-mining tanks and will provide training for the equipment.

• Australia is increasing the sanctions against Russian individuals, and will also send reconnaissance drones to aid Ukraine.

• The UK, when asked about supplying jets to Ukraine, has stated that they would be noticed supplied fighter jets if any or to be sent to Kyiv.

• Activists in London have painted some of the roads in yellow and blue to represent the Ukraine flag. They were arrested and were from a group called ‘led by Donkeys’.

  

• The G7 has announced a $39 billion package to support Ukraine. This will help to finance infrastructure and to provide services for citizens, and also to carry out repairs to infrastructure that have been damaged by Russian missile attacks.

• The Eiffel Tower has been lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, yellow, and blue, to mark the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian ambassador was invited to the ceremony

  

• Zelenskyy has stated that he would like to meet with China, and he has not seen any peace plan by the Chinese.

• Poland has been creating a stronger border with Kaliningrad, and have used anti-tank obstacles as a security measure. Poland has also erected steel fences across the border with Belarus as another preventative measure. It must be remembered that Belarus permitted the Russians to hold military drills on their territory, which then became real and started the invasion

  

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• In Russia, it is Fatherland day Word Putin has given a speech, stating that Russia will have advanced equipment for the troops to use, but does not say where these weapons will come from. He also stated that Russia intends to develop their nuclear weapons this year.

• The Kerch bridge has now reopened to traffic after being damaged after a bomb was detonated in October 2022. The bridge links Russia to occupied Crimea.

• A new database has been created by Eurojust to handle and catalogue the legal filings of allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine. And it will be used by the JIT, the joint investigation team which is a agency within the EU and is made up of several countries, including Lithuania, Poland and Estonia to date more than 71,000 alleged war crimes have been recorded. The agency will be focusing on analysing evidence and preserving it to enable a prosecution.