As the Russian invasion of Ukraine reached its 100th day, the President of the war-torn nation, Volodymyr Zelensky, said he is “sure of victory”. In a video marking 100 days of Moscow’s assault on its pro-democracy neighbour, the Ukrainian leader said his country’s military would “fend off the Russian invasion”.
“Victory will be ours,” Zelensky said in the video that included Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak, news agency AFP reported.
Meanwhile, Russia said that it will continue its military operation in Ukraine until “all its goals have been achieved”.
“One of the main goals of the operation is to protect people in the DNR (Donetsk People’s Republic) and LNR (Luhansk People’s Republic). Measures have been taken to ensure their protection and certain results have been achieved”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, referring to the two breakaway regions of Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
A few days before Moscow’s offensive was launched on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree to officially recognise the independence of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine – Donetsk and Luhansk. However, Ukraine has said it retains sovereignty over areas occupied since 2014 by Russian and pro-Russian forces.
The Kremlin further said that its forces had achieved some results from its “campaign in Ukraine,” 100 days after Moscow sent troops into its pro-Western neighbour.
“Certain results have been achieved,” Peskov was quoted as saying by AFP, pointing to the “liberation” of some areas from what he called the “pro-Nazi armed forces of Ukraine”.
Toll of 100 days of war
On Wednesday, Zelensky said 60 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are dying in combat every day, with about 500 more wounded. Russia’s last publicly released figures for its own forces came on March 25, when a general told the state media that 1,351 soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded.
Meanwhile, relentless shelling, bombing and airstrikes have reduced large swaths of many cities and towns to rubble. The war has also led to one of the worst refugee crisis Europe has ever seen since the Second World War. The UN refugee agency UNHCR estimates that about 6.8 million people have been driven out of Ukraine since the war began. The fallout has also rippled the global economy in the wake of massive Western sanctions on Russia.
(With inputs from agencies)