KYIV, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Ukraine has defended its independence since Russia’s invasion and will not betray the sacrifices made by its people as it seeks peace, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address marking the fourth anniversary of the start of the war.
“Putin has not achieved his goals. He has not broken the Ukrainian people. He has not won this war,” Zelenskiy said on Tuesday. “We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to achieve peace. And to ensure justice.”
Zelenskiy is due to welcome dignitaries from European allies, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv later in the day for ceremonies four years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides have died or been wounded in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two. Russian forces have killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and destroyed Ukrainian cities with years of missiles and drone strikes.
Ongoing peace talks with Russia, brokered by the United States, appear to have stalled over the question of territory.
Moscow, which is advancing slowly on the battlefield, has refused to drop its insistence that Ukraine cede the final 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk – while Kyiv is adamant it will not relinquish land that thousands have died to defend.
“We want peace. Strong, dignified, lasting peace,” Zelenskiy said in his address.
He added that he had told Ukraine’s peace negotiators: “Do not nullify all these years, do not devalue all the struggle, courage, dignity, everything that Ukraine has gone through. We cannot, we must not, give it away, forget it, betray it.”
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Andrew Heavens)
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