Four months have passed since Friday, June 24, since the beginning of the full-scale war unleashed by the russian occupiers against Ukraine.
Air-raid sirens, air defenses rumbled, artillery volleys, rockets and missiles exploded. Factories and oil depots were burned, cities and villages destroyed, fields mined. Mutilated people, thousands of zinc coffins and long rows of new graves. All this is the terrible reality of today.
Ukraine has fulfilled the minimum task – to repel russian aggression, to preserve its statehood and territorial integrity. The maximum task – to return Donbas and Crimea – is yet to come.
For Ukraine, in the current situation, it is no less important to minimize losses, preserve its economic potential and integrate into the European political and economic system.
So far, the situation on the fronts is tense. Despite numerous attacks, our soldiers are holding their positions. Unfortunately, in some directions we are forced to retreat to new lines and level the front, as the occupiers burn out and flatten the cities to the ground. In the southern area of the clash, the initiative lies with the Ukrainian army.
Neither russia nor Ukraine disclose their combat losses, but they are significant on both sides and growing with each day of the war.
Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced from their homes and millions of people have lost their jobs. As russian forces advance in the eastern regions, this number continues to grow.
Russian invasion has brought Kyiv and Western countries closer together. On Thursday, June 23, the European Council granted Ukraine candidate status for EU membership.
NATO countries are supplying Kyiv with a variety of military equipment – tanks, armored personnel carriers, air defense systems, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, howitzers, self-propelled artillery systems and more. Thanks to mass deliveries of Western weapons, the Ukrainian army may soon be fully rearmed according to NATO standards. This moment should be a turning point in the confrontation with the aggressor, because the enemy now prevails in the number of heavy weapons and manpower.
Today, the whole world is fascinated by the heroism of Ukrainian people, fighting the occupiers and holding their own until the last man. No one thought that the Ukrainian warrior was so motivated and capable to stop the advance of the superior enemy army.
Ukrainian society is transforming, growing, and strengthening. Unfortunately, it is through pain and loss, tears, blood and sweat. But we need this strength and unity more than ever in order to withstand this war. And we are the ones who managed to survive those times, which will be written about in history manuals and told in legends.