Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieck has delivered the first Leopard tanks to Ukraine during his visit to Kyiv Friday, the anniversary of the Russian invasion, the president said. Andrzej Duda told a meeting of the National Security Council he was happy that Poland was the first nation to offer the advanced tanks to Ukraine. Poland has pledged 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and called on other European nations to follow suit. It was unclear how many tanks arrived on Friday. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president pledged to push for victory in 2023 as he and other Ukrainians on Friday marked the somber anniversary of the Russian invasion that he called “the longest day of our lives.” As morning broke on a day of commemorations and reflection, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy struck a tone of grim defiance and used the Feb. 24 anniversary to congratulate Ukrainians on their resilience in the face of Europe’s biggest and deadliest war since World War II. He said they had proven themselves to be invincible in what he called “a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity.” “We survived the first day of the full-scale war. We didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but we clearly understood that for each tomorrow, you need to fight. And we fought,” he said in an early morning video address. It was “the longest day of our lives. The hardest day of our modern history. We woke up early and haven’t fallen asleep since,” he said. Ukrainians attended memorials, held vigils and other remembrances for their tens of thousands of dead — a toll growing all the time as fighting rages in eastern Ukraine in particular. Although Friday marked the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, combat between Russian-backed forces and Ukrainian troops has raged in the country’s east since 2014. New video from there shot with a drone for The Associated Press showed how the town of Marinka has been razed, along with others. Lining up in the capital, Kyiv, to buy anniversary commemorative postage stamps, Tetiana Klimkova said that a year into the invasion, she’s been unable to shake “the feeling that your heart is constantly falling, it is falling and hurting.” Still, “this day has become a symbol for me that we have survived for a whole year and will continue to live,” she said. “On this day, our children and grandchildren will remember how strong Ukrainians are mentally, physically, and spiritually.” But peace is nowhere in sight. China called for a cease-fire — an idea previously rejected by Ukraine for fear it would allow Russia to regroup militarily after bruising battlefield setbacks. A 12-point paper issued Friday by China’s Foreign Ministry also urged the end of Western sanctions that are squeezing Russia’s economy. That suggestion also looks like a non-starter, given that Western nations are working to further tighten the sanctions noose, not loosen it. The U.K. government imposed more sanctions Friday on firms supplying military equipment to Moscow and said it would bar exports to Russia of aircraft parts and other components. Ukraine also is readying another military push to roll back Russian forces — with weaponry that has been pouring in from the West. “Ukraine is entering a new period, with […]

The post Zelensky Pledges Push for Victory on First Anniversary of War appeared first on The Yeshiva World.