Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Photo: Presidency of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty
It was Feb. 24, 2022, when Russian forces launched a large-scaleinvasion of Ukraine, a move that marked the first major land conflict in Europe in decades and drew swift condemnation around the world.
Two years later the war rages on — and remains a hot-button issue in international politics, both because of the human toll and because Ukraine needs additional support to keep defending its territory.
CNN, citingthe Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker, reports that the EU and its regional allies have spent more than $100 billion funding Ukraine’s defense effort so far.
Still, with Ukraine continuing to arm itself amid the invasion (and having recently suffered a crushing defeat in the region of Avdiivka), more outside aid is needed, and Ukrainian leaders have expressed frustration at the apparent lack of urgency.
Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told local news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, “We fight and will continue to fight. We have only one request to our partners: to help with weapons, with ammunition, and with air defense.”
Denmark heeded the call this month, as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pledged to provide her nation’s “entire artillery” arsenal to Ukraine — and called out other countries who have blamed production issues for not being able to provide the level of military equipment Ukraine needs.
“Sorry to say, friends, but there is still military equipment in stock in Europe,” Frederiksen said at the Munich Security Conference. “We have weapons, we have ammunition, we have air defense systems that we don’t have to use ourselves at the moment — that must be handed over to Ukraine.”
On Instagram, she pledged that Denmark would stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who suspiciously died in an Arctic penal colony in February, holds an unauthorized anti-Putin rally ahead of the longtime president’s 2018 inauguration.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty
According to a Russian prison service, Navalny died after taking a walk around an Arctic penal colony where he was being held, though many are skeptical about the circumstances surrounding his sudden death, including the U.S. government.
Shortly after Navalny’s death, PresidentJoe Bidencalled it “more proof of Putin’s brutality,” saying in a speech, “Make no mistake, Putin is responsible.”
“Look, the way they’re walking away from the threat of Russia, the way they’re walking away from NATO, the way they’re walking away from leaving our obligations, it’s just shocking … I’ve never seen anything like this,” Biden said, perABC News.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on Dec. 21, 2022.Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty
The death toll in the war has been difficult to track, but the varying estimates are staggering.
In August, U.S. officials said that the total number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since the war began was nearing 500,000, theNew York Timesreported. According to the nonprofit group Save the Children, an average of 42 civilians have been killed or injured daily in the two years of war.
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“We are doing everything possible and impossible to defeat the Russian evil and protect as many Ukrainian lives as possible,” Zelenskyy reminded his forces on Monday. “We must continue to be resilient, we must continue to be determined.”
source: people.com
