Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its 100th day on Friday, a bloody milestone that serves as a testament to the resilience of the Ukrainian forces against a vastly larger foe
The somber milestone came as Kyiv announced Moscow was now in control of a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea and parts of Donbas seized in 2014.
But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky also said his country’s military would fend off the Russian invasion.
“Victory will be ours,” Zelensky said in a video that included Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak, recalling an impromptu message they posted outside government buildings at the onset of the war in which they vowed to remain in the country.
After being repelled from around the capital, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops have set their sights on capturing eastern Ukraine, prompting warnings the war could drag on.
Some of the fiercest fightings are now centered on Severodonetsk in the Donbas region, 80 percent of which the Russians have seized, but Ukrainian forces are putting up stiff resistance.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Thursday that Ukrainian forces had had some success in the battle for the industrial hub, which is in the Luhansk region.
“But it is still too early. It is the toughest area at the moment,” he added.
An unprecedented diplomatic campaign in the lead up to Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 failed to prevent war. But the weeks of meetings, led by the U.S., succeeded in repositioning the global order in one of the greatest shifts to occur since World War II.
European nations including Germany, Sweden and Finland abandoned decades of cautious military policy to more fully join the U.S. and allies to deliver Ukraine the military means to fight, impose wide-ranging sanctions, shore up their own defenses and work to sever energy ties from Moscow.
While Ukraine and its supporters have declared victory in the battle for Kyiv, which U.S. intelligence had first predicted would fall within 72 hours, Moscow’s forces maintain key advantages in the fight for Ukraine’s eastern territory.
Russia has gained control of a key port city, Mariupol, and is inching closer to dominating Severdonetsk. Ukrainian President Zelensky said Thursday that Russia controls about one-fifth of his nation.
“We’re in a situation now where obviously the Ukrainians are having a difficult time,” said Angela Stent, an expert in U.S. and European relations with Russia. “I’m not saying the tide is turning, but it’s becoming more difficult for the Ukrainians to sustain the counteroffensive.”
