PRAGUE – At least 1,000 people have rallied in the Czech capital to condemn Russia for its war against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian organizers of the rally in Prague also protested against some companies and clothing retailers that they say are still doing business in Russia.
The protesters marched through the city’s major shopping streets from the picturesque Old Town Square to central Wenceslas Square on Friday, for the one-year mark after Russia’s invasion.
The demonstrators were carrying banners with the names of the businesses and showed red marks — symbolizing blood — and waved Ukrainian flags.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS:
— Ukraine leader pledges push for victory on war anniversary
— US commits $2 billion in drones, ammunition, aid to Ukraine
— ‘People’s court’ endorses Putin indictment for aggression
— China calls for Russia-Ukraine cease-fire, peace talks
— Joy amid sorrow: 1st birthdays muted for Ukrainian parents
— Tallying Ukraine toll an elusive task
— Follow AP’s coverage of the war anniversary in Ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
BERLIN – Germany is pledging to send another four Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a decision that it says enables it to put together a full battalion for Kyiv along with Sweden and Portugal.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius decided Friday to increase the number of tanks Germany will send from 14 to 18, his ministry said.
Germany is coordinating deliveries of Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine, while Poland is coordinating deliveries of a battalion of Leopard 2A4 tanks.
The ministry said Sweden’s announcement earlier Friday that it will send Ukraine 10 Leopard 2A5 tanks, in addition to three tanks pledged by Portugal, means that the three countries can provide 31 tanks for a “mixed Ukrainian battalion.”
The Leopard 2A5s that Sweden is offering are technically similar to the tanks Germany is sending.
Germany is currently training Ukrainian soldiers on the German-made Leopards, which are set to be delivered next month.
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BELGRADE, Serbia – Waving Ukrainian flags, more than 1,000 people marched in Serbia’s capital on Friday in support of Ukraine on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the country.
The gathering in Belgrade was organized by a Ukrainian group in Serbia, and the Ukrainian embassy. Participants held banners reading ‘Peace for Ukraine’ and ‘Stop the war in Ukraine.’
The rally was attended by Western diplomats, but not Serbian government officials. The Balkan country is a traditional ally of Russia, and it remains the only country in Europe that has not joined Western sanctions against Russia.
Earlier on Friday, police prevented a group of anti-war activists from reaching the Russian embassy in Belgrade. They had sought to deliver a red cake with a skull on top, to symbolize Russia’s aggression of Ukraine.
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BRASILIA, Brazil – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is urging countries that aren’t involved in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to take up the job of leading talks to restore peace between them.
On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the Brazilian leader wrote Friday on social media that “it is urgent that a group of countries, which are not involved in the conflict, take on responsibility for heading negotiations to reestablish peace.”
Lula has floated the proposal since taking office Jan. 1, and has brought it up with Presidents Joe Biden of the United States and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
Lula has received criticism from some analysts and members of the international community for not taking a stronger stance against Russia.
He told reporters that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz requested Brazil send munitions to Ukrainian forces, which he declined to do. Lula has said he favors peace, and doesn’t want to get pulled into the war.
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Russian media and rights groups say police in various parts of Russia have detained protesters who took to the streets with antiwar slogans or flowers to mark the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
At least eight people were detained Friday after taking flowers to a monument to victims of political repression in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, according to the OVD-Info legal aid group, which tracks political arrests.
It said two people were detained in St. Petersburg after bringing flowers to a monument honoring Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko.
In Siberia, five people were detained in the city of Barnaul, including a man who picketed on a central square with a placard reading “Stop being silent,” the Sibir.Realii news outlet said. It said a woman in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur was detained for protesting with a banner saying: “We’re mourning. Forgive us, we screwed up our country.”
Russians all across the country actively protested against the war in Ukraine during the first week of the invasion. Large rallies quickly fizzled after thousands were detained, but single-person protests — and detentions — persisted throughout the year.
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ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has thanked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Ukraine’s help in responding to the devastating earthquake that hit parts of Turkey and Syria.
The Turkish leader, in a call Friday with Zelenskyy to discuss the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also reiterated his willingness to help contribute to a possible cease-fire or foster negotiations to end the conflict, Ergodan’s office said.
Erdogan also hailed Ukraine’s “solidarity” with Turkey in the aftermath of the earthquake. Ukraine sent a search team to Turkey that assisted efforts to rescue quake survivors.
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STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s government says it will send up to 10 German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
The commitment is aimed to reinforce similar announcements recently from other European countries to send in the high-tech, broadly-deployed tanks to help Kyiv meet its demands for better firepower against Russian forces.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference Friday the move by Sweden followed a decision by Germany last month to send more than a dozen of its Leopards to Ukraine and green-light other Western allies to send them, too.
Sweden said it also intends to donate parts of its HAWK and IRIS-T air defense systems to Ukraine. Sweden is seeking NATO membership.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies, in a recent look at Leopards in national arsenals, said Sweden has 120 of the tanks.
On Thursday, neighboring Finland said it will hand over three Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine as part of its latest aid package to Kyiv.
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KYIV, Ukraine – Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says his country has delivered four advanced Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Morawiecki told a news conference in Kyiv Friday that the tanks have actually arrived and aren’t just pledges on paper.
The prime minister said Poland will provide more Leopard tanks soon, as well as a number of upgraded, Soviet-era T-72 tanks.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told a National Security Council earlier Friday 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 Germany has promised an equal number.
Other tank donor countries include Canada which as sent personnel to train Ukrainians.
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BUCHAREST, Romania – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a reminder of how the “present and future can change in an instant” and called for Moscow to be held accountable for crimes its forces have committed in Ukraine.
Iohannis said in a message posted online Friday that innocent people have lost their lives, others have lost their homes and saw schools and hospitals destroyed while many others had to flee the violence for the sake of their children.
He said Ukrainians have “impressed the whole world” with their courage and that they protect the freedom and security of the whole of Europe.
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MOSCOW – The Russian Foreign Ministry is warning Ukraine and its Western allies that an attack on Russian troops in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria would be construed as an attack on Russia itself and trigger an “adequate response.”
The ministry said in a statement “We are warning the U.S., NATO countries and their Ukrainian proxies from any further adventurous steps.”
Friday’s warning came a day after the Russian Defense Ministry alleged that Ukraine was planning a “provocation” in Transnistria, where Russia has maintained about 1,500 “peacekeeping” troops since the Moscow-backed region broke away in a 1992 civil war.
Citing intelligence data without presenting any evidence, the Russian military alleged that Ukrainian soldiers disguised as Russian troops planned to launch a false flag operation designed to apportion blame Russia for invading Ukraine from Transnistria. Kyiv would the then use that as a pretext to invade the territory.
Moldova’s Defense Ministry said there are “no direct threats” to the country’s security. It urged citizens to remain calm, adding that it’s working with other authorities to “prevent any attempt at destabilization.”
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BUCHAREST, Romania — Moldova’s President Maia Sandu says Ukrainians are not only fighting Russia for a “free and dignified life” but also for the “freedom of the entire continent.”
In a message posted online on the war’s first anniversary Friday, Sandu said “there is no greater injustice than being invaded and killed in your own home” and praised Ukrainians who “rose up, conquered their fears and became invincible” in the face of Russian aggression.
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SOFIA, Bulgaria – A senior European Union official says the entire democratic world will win the war in Ukraine and that Russia must be stopped now because it “will go as far as it can” if left unopposed.
European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Friday it’s the first time in EU history that the bloc is providing military assistance to a country in time of war.
Dombrovskis said that Brussels is committed to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, adding that the bloc is coming out with a new package of sanctions against Moscow “that are biting hard and contributing to sustained economic recession in Russia.”
But he warned that every EU country must apply the sanctions if they’re to be effective, including seizing and freezing Russian assets. Dombrovskis said the EU is working on “legal solutions” to use seized Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction.
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LONDON – Britain’s King Charles III has praised the “remarkable courage and resilience” of Ukrainians during a year of war.
In a message to mark Friday’s first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the king said “the people of Ukraine have suffered unimaginably from an unprovoked full-scale attack on their nation.”
Charles said he had met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Buckingham Palace earlier this month to express his “personal support” for Ukraine’s people.
The king, who took the throne in September after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, said it was “heartening that the United Kingdom, along with its allies, is doing everything possible to help at this most difficult time.”
He added that he’s hopeful the outpouring of solidarity from across the globe “may bring not only practical aid, but also strength from the knowledge that, together, we stand united.”
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BERLIN – A wrecked Russian tank brought from Ukraine has been put on display outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin to mark the anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.
The T-72 tank was put on display in Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard, in front of the embassy.
The tank was brought to Berlin by a private group, which said that the Ukrainian defense ministry’s military history museum loaned the vehicle and helped it with logistics. It says the vehicle was hit in the Kyiv region in the early stages of the war.
One of the organizers, Wieland Giebel of the Berlin Story group, said that the whole world recognize that many Germans stand behind Ukraine.
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BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbian police have prevented a group of antiwar activists from reaching the Russian embassy to presenting a skull-adorned cake in commemoration of the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
Activists left the cake soaked in red dye on the pavement near the embassy in central Belgrade. Activists also wanted to hand embassy staff a demand for Russian President Vladimir Putin to stand trial for genocide.
A traditional Slavic ally, Serbia has maintained friendly relations with Russia despite the invasion. While formally seeking European Union entry, Belgrade has refused to join Western sanctions designed to punish Moscow for the aggression.
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TALLINN, Estonia – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russian President Vladimir Putin is “preparing for more war” and that he wants a Europe in which Russia “can dictate what neighbors do.”
Stoltenberg made the remarks Friday in the Estonian capital where he was joined by EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to commemorate the Baltic country’s independence day.
Von der Leyen said Putin has failed to achieve any of his strategic goals and that Russia is becoming increasingly isolated, citing Thursday’s U.N. General Assembly vote approving a nonbinding resolution that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces.
Stoltenberg also said that he has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend a NATO summit in Lithuania in July, expressing hope that the Ukrainian leader can attend in person.
NATO will hold a summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, Jul. 11-13.
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BERLIN – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked Germany for its support in the first year of Russia’s invasion and said his country can “end Russian aggression this year.”
Zelenskyy spoke in a video message to a memorial event in Berlin Friday led by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and attended by Germany’s top politicians and the Ukrainian ambassador.
Zelenskyy, who spoke through an interpreter, said that “now is the time when, with our courage and our weapons, we can restore peace and create a historically important safeguard against every aggression.”
Steinmeier led a minute of silence for the victims of the war. He said that “Germany is not at war, but this war concerns us … Russia’s war of aggression has wrecked the European security order.”
He pledged that Kyiv can rely on Germany.
The German parliament on Friday replaced one of the German flags atop its Reichstag building – which usually has three German flags and one European Union flag – with a Ukrainian flag. A Ukrainian flag also was raised outside the chancellery.
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WARSAW, Poland – Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak says that “preventive barriers” are being put up along the country’s borders with Russia and Belarus.
Blaszczak posted on Twitter Friday that the barriers were elements of a “strategy of defense and deterrence.”
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KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s presidential office says that Russian strikes in the last 23 hours have killed at least three civilians and wounded 19 others.
The office said Friday that intense fighting continued to rage around Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region, where two civilians were killed and seven others wounded..
Russian forces targeted 18 towns or villages in the Donetsk region with air and artillery strikes over the last 24 hours, including the city of Kramatorsk that hosts Ukrainian military headquarters for the region.
The governor of the neighboring Luhansk region, Serhii Haidai, said that heavy fighting continued to rage around Kreminna, where the Russians briefly broke through Ukrainian defenses before being pushed back by the Ukrainian forces. Haidai said Russian forces were regrouping and bringing more personnel and weapons to the region after suffering heavy losses in unsuccessful attacks.
Russian attacks also targeted the town of Kupiansk and nearby villages in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where seven people were wounded At least one civilian was killed and three others wounded by the Russian attacks in the southern Kherson region. In the city of Kherson, Russian artillery struck the city hospital, but no one was injured.
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MOSCOW – A senior Russian official says Moscow should capture as much Ukrainian territory as possible to secure a stable peace.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said Friday that if Russia fails to fully defeat Ukraine, an eventual peace agreement will be unstable and set the stage for hostilities to erupt again in the future.
Medvedev charged that the U.S. would call the shots in future peace talks, aiming to “weaken Russia as much as possible.”
He argued on his messaging app channel that Russia should “push threats … as far away as possible, even if it were the border of Poland.”
Medvedev, who served as Russian president in 2008-2012 when Putin needed to shift into the prime minister’s job because of term limits, has become one of the most hawkish members of Putin’s entourage.
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LONDON – Britain has slapped more sanctions on firms that supply Russia’s battlefield equipment on the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
The U.K. said Friday it will bar export to Russia of all items it has used in the war, including aircraft parts, radio equipment, and electronic components of weapons.
The list includes executives of several Russian banks and defense companies, as well as Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company, Rosatom.
Also sanctioned are five executives from Iran’s Qods Aviation Industry, which makes armed drones that Moscow has used to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will lead a nationwide minute of silence for Ukraine Friday morning, gathering outside 10 Downing St. with Ukraine’s ambassador and a contingent of Ukrainian troops.
Sunak will also urge Western allies to deliver more weapons to give Ukraine a “decisive advantage on the battlefield” during a conference call of Group of Seven leaders.
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KYIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has awarded top state honors to soldiers and other Ukrainians who helped save lives, including health and energy workers.
In Friday’s ceremony outside Kyiv’s St Sophia Cathedral marking the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Zelenskyy offered praise to soldiers and ordinary Ukrainians fighting back against Russian troops saying, “we are proud of you … let this pride course through trenches and squares.”
Some soldiers posthumously were awarded Ukraine’s highest honor, Hero of Ukraine, for “personal heroism and great labor achievements.” Family members of the fallen soldiers were on hand to accept the honor.
Also recognized were men and women running regional energy enterprises and health centers, including in Ukraine’s embattled east and south.
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BERLIN – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed in his aims a year after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Scholz said in a video message Friday marking the anniversary that Germany will continue to firmly stand by Ukraine. He said it’s not weapons deliveries that are prolonging the war, but Putin’s insistence on achieving his “imperialist aim.”
The German chancellor said the sooner Putin realizes that he won’t achieve this aim, the better the chance of ending the war soon, adding, “It is in Putin’s hand – he can end this war.”
Scholz aid Putin has failed because he counted on division but Ukraine is more united than ever and the European Union also stands united.
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BRUSSELS — The NATO military alliance is affirming its commitment to stand by Ukraine and help it defeat Russia on the first anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
“We remain determined to maintain coordinated international pressure on Russia,” ambassadors from the 30 alliance countries said in a statement Friday.
“Russia’s efforts to break the resolve of the brave people of Ukraine are failing. One year on, Ukrainians are fighting valiantly for freedom and independence. We stand with them.”
The envoys also reaffirmed their “iron-clad” intent to come to the defense of any member country should Russia consider broadening the war.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s defense chief has congratulated the country’s armed forces for rebuffing an enemy “that terrified the whole world,” referring to Russia’s failed attempt to launch a full-scale invasion that would take control of Ukraine.
“Our soldiers and the entire Ukrainian people took up a fight many in the world considered hopeless,” Oleksiy Reznikov said in an address posted on Facebook on Friday.
“You rebuffed the enemy’s army, which terrified the whole world. But it turned out to be powerless against Ukrainians, who are defending their home and their loved ones, fighting for their land,” he added.
Reznikov said Kyiv will fight until it takes back all territory captured or annexed by Russia, and until the danger from Moscow is “eliminated.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s army chief, Valery Zaluzhny, says his country’s resilience against Russia’s invasion “rests on our people,”
“Ordinary heroes among us. They are people who took up arms to protect their families, their homes and their state from the enemy’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression,” he wrote on Facebook Friday.
“They are people who are now, at this moment, beating back the occupier, holding the line, freezing in our cold but dear, native land, saving the lives of their compatriots, helping the army however they can,” he wrote.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The five Nordic prime ministers say Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has caused unimaginable suffering, death, and destruction on a scale not seen on our continent since World War II.”
In a joint statement on the one-year anniversary of the invasion, the government leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden said that “Russia’s brutal aggression” was “the gravest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades.”
The consequences of the war “are felt far and wide. Economic stability, energy and food security are seriously threatened with severe consequences for the least developed countries,” they said.
“Ukraine’s struggle is our struggle,” they said in the statement.
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WASHINGTON — White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan during a CNN town hall on Thursday confirmed that Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volydymyr Zelenskyy discussed Ukraine’s request for fighter jets during the U.S. president’s recent visit to Kyiv.
Zelenskyy has asked the U.S. for F-16s, something that Biden has declined to supply.
Sullivan underscored that the administration has been focused on providing Ukraine with the weaponry they believe is most needed in the current and coming stages of the war.
He suggested, however, that the F-16 request could be revisited.
“They’re about to mount a significant counteroffense,” Sullivan noted, referring to expectations that Ukraine will mount a spring offensive. “From our perspective, F-16s are not the key capability for that offensive. It is the stuff that we are moving rapidly to the front lines now.”
