One Year of Ukraine War Updates | Zelensky Says He Plans to Meet Chinese Prez Jinping For 'Urgent' Peace Talks

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Friday to do everything to defeat Russia this year, as the first highly-sought Leopard battle tanks arrived in Ukraine on the anniversary of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.

The German-made Leopard tanks from Warsaw rolled in to help Ukraine repel Russian troops as Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited Kyiv to send a “clear and measurable signal of further support”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he was planning to meet China’s Xi Jinping after Beijing called for urgent peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.

“I am planning to meet with Xi Jinping,” he told reporters, without saying when or where. “This will be important for world security.”

Russians in Moscow and other cities brought flowers to Ukrainian poets and held one-person pickets with antiwar slogans Friday to mark the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian media and civil rights groups reported at least a dozen detentions, part of the Kremlin’s sweeping crackdown on dissent that has spiked to unprecedented levels since the start of the war.

At least eight people were detained in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, according to OVD-Info, a legal aid group that tracks political arrests. They all had brought flowers to the city’s monument to victims of political repression, the group said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Friday that China’s proposal to resolve the Ukraine war was “interesting” but not a full-fledged plan to lead to peace.

“It is not a peace plan, it is a position paper … where China has put together all their positions expressed since the beginning,” Borrell said at the United Nations.

As the war entered its second year, Zelensky pledged to do everything to defeat the invaders in the coming months.

“We endured. We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year,” Zelensky said in a statement.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said his army was gearing up for a counteroffensive.

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Friday to do everything to defeat Russia this year, as the first Western tanks arrived in Ukraine on the anniversary of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.

German-made Leopard tanks from Warsaw arrived in Ukraine as Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited Kyiv to send a “clear and measurable signal of further support”.

Ukraine will offer compensation for possible damages to civilian vessels entering its ports, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Friday, as Kyiv tries to boost exports that are vital for its war-hit economy. Ukraine is a major producer and exporter of agricultural products, metals and chemical goods but has faced blockades of Black Sea ports since Russia’s invasion a year ago and only food cargo can be shipped abroad.

Kubrakov said on Twitter that Ukraine’s parliament had approved a law to set up a $500 million insurance fund. “We’re working on resuming delivery & expanding the range of products. I invite countries of the civilized world & interested businesses to cooperate,” Kubrakov said.

Insurers are facing half a billion dollars in claims for up to 60 commercial ships still stuck in Ukraine a year after the start of the war with Russia, industry sources said. When the conflict started, more than 90 merchant ships – many with food cargoes onboard – and some 2,000 crew members were caught in Ukraine and unable to leave due to the fighting.

Curtailed shipments from major grain exporter Ukraine played a role in the resulting global food crisis. According to shipping and insurance industry assessments, there are still between 40 and 60 ships stranded, and ship owners can claim a total loss for vessels stuck for a year from their insurers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile will be deployed this year. The Sarmat — dubbed Satan 2 by Western analysts — is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and is among Russia’s next-generation missiles that Putin has described as “invincible”. It is liquid-fueled missile and was first announced by Putin in 2018. The missiles were supposed to have been deployed last year. According to Reuters, Putin has signalled he is ready to rip up the architecture of nuclear arms control – including the big powers’ moratorium on nuclear testing – unless the West backs off in Ukraine.

Russia is in talks with a Chinese drone maker to supply it with self-explosive drones that could be deployed in Ukraine, German magazine Der Spiegel reported Friday. The magazine said it has seen information indicating that Russia’s military is negotiating with Chinese drone manufacturer Xi’an Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology to produce such drones for Moscow on a large scale. The Chinese manufacturer, the report said, has agreed to build and test 100 ZT-180 prototype drones before delivering them to Russia by April 2023. Each of the drones is reportedly able to carry between 35 to 50 kilogrammes of explosives. READ MORE

Ukrainians paid tribute to their fallen loved ones on Friday and vowed to fight on to victory, while Russia said its forces were making gains in battle in the east as its invasion entered a second year with no end in sight. At a ceremony on Kyiv’s St Sophia Square, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy bestowed medals to a soldier on crutches and the mother of one killed, and held back tears when a band played the national anthem. “We have become one family. There are no more strangers among us. Ukrainians today are all fellows. Ukrainians have sheltered Ukrainians, opened their homes and hearts to those who were forced to flee the war,” Zelenskiy said in a television address.

Poland has delivered the first German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion. “Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will announce on Friday in Kyiv that Poland has already delivered the first Leopard tanks to Ukraine,” the state news agency said, citing government sources.

Germany insisted on Friday that any joint statement from the ongoing G20 finance ministers meeting must mention “war”, following reports that host India wanted to avoid using the word. Russia is a member of the G20 but did not have a ministerial-level representative at the gathering. Next week, however, Sergei Lavrov is expected to attend a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in New Delhi.

Putin’s health has always been an area of interest across the globe and there have been several speculations and rumours about his deteriorating health. He is rumoured to be suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s Disease and other ailments including a schizoaffective disorder. Reports published in December last year claimed that Putin is being treated for cancer with Western medicine. Russian historian and political analyst Valery Solovey said that the 70-year-old Russian president is ‘being kept alive’ by medicines made in the West to slow the cancer’s spread. READ MORE

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Friday the “free world is indebted” to Ukrainians fighting to defend European values, vowing continued support for Kyiv one year after Russia’s invasion. “Ukraine is not and will not be alone, because it is also defending the values of freedom and democracy on which the European identity was born,” Meloni said in a video message. “The free world is indebted to the Ukrainian women and men. Italy is on their side,” she said.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday questioned China’s willingness to mediate in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, after Beijing called for urgent peace talks to end the war. “Every constructive suggestion that brings us closer on the path to a just peace is highly welcome,” Steinmeier said on the anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

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