European leaders joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday to mark the country’s Independence Day as Russia’s four-year invasion continues.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with President Vladimir Putin seeking to bring Kyiv back under Moscow’s influence. Ukraine had overwhelmingly voted for independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The war has shown little major movement along the front line in recent months. Despite more than a year of US-led diplomatic efforts, there has been no clear breakthrough toward ending the conflict.
Instead, Russia and Ukraine have stepped up long-range air attacks that have killed civilians and damaged critical infrastructure.
European leaders show support for Ukraine
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, making his first foreign trip since taking office last month, joined nearly a dozen European leaders and other senior officials in Kyiv.
European Council President Antonio Costa was among those attending the Independence Day events.
“For Ukraine, independence is not an abstract idea. We defended it against all odds,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media, stressing the importance of having allies during difficult times.
Burnham was scheduled to co-chair a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing,” a group of countries supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia. The leaders of France and Germany were expected to join the meeting online.
The visiting leaders brought promises of additional military and financial support for Ukraine.
Burnham was also expected to announce that the UK government had agreed to let defense company MBDA share classified information about British components used in the SCALP long-range missile. The move could help France and Ukraine move forward with plans to produce the missile locally in Ukraine.
SCALP is the French version of Britain’s Storm Shadow missile. Both weapons use technology developed jointly by France and Britain.
Ukraine has depended heavily on NATO members for military support as it fights Russia’s larger armed forces. Relations with the United States, however, have become more complicated under President Donald Trump.
Russia, meanwhile, has received support from North Korea and China.
Both sides have increasingly used long-range attacks to damage each other’s economies, disrupt military supplies and weaken public morale.
Ukrainian drones have repeatedly targeted Russia’s important oil industry, contributing to fuel shortages. Ukraine has also carried out attacks linked to Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries.
Three teenagers killed in Russian city
Three teenagers were killed and six children wounded in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar during Ukrainian drone attacks, Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said Monday.
The attacks targeted several warehouses operated by Ozon for a third consecutive day, according to Russian officials and the company.
Ozon, one of Russia’s biggest online retailers, said a major fire broke out at one of its logistics facilities near Krasnodar following an overnight attack.
A drone also struck the grounds of an Ozon logistics center in the southern region of Adygeya, regional Governor Murat Kumpilov said. The company, however, said the warehouse there was not damaged.
Overall, four Ozon facilities appeared to have been targeted.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 351 Ukrainian drones overnight across eight Russian regions, as well as Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and areas of the Azov and Black seas.
The ministry also said Russian forces continued overnight attacks on Ukrainian ports and vessels carrying supplies for Ukraine’s armed forces.