- Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP.
VIVA – The Russia-Ukraine war has been going on for 10 months since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a massive military operation on February 24, 2022. The Ukraine-Russia war has left thousands of soldiers and civilians from both sides dead, and triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
It is estimated that nearly 8 million Ukrainians were displaced and left their country because of the war. Millions of Ukrainians are also experiencing an energy crisis as Russia attacks energy sources, and the country's power grid. Ukrainian cities were left without electricity and heat during the winter.
Fifty western countries help Ukraine
Presiden Ukraina Volodymyr Zelensky bertemu dengan Presiden AS, Joe Biden.
- AP Photo/Patrick Semansky.
Ukraine has taken back some Russian-occupied territory but will need more help to drive Russia back to peace. Zelensky has repeatedly asked Western countries for help with weapons and air cover against Russia.
"I ask you to strengthen overall efforts to help financially with the creation of an air shield for Ukraine. Millions of people will be grateful to the Group of Seven for such assistance," he said in a video address to G7 leaders, on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, while warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin "still has room for further escalation".
On Sunday, November 20, 2022, Russia launched its most intense missile barrage since the war began. Russia launched 400 strikes in eastern Ukraine. The fiercest fighting, as ever, took place in the Donetsk region.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Russia's latest attacks had revealed its "hatred and cruelty" since invading Ukraine on February 24.
More than 50 Western countries met in Brussels and pledged more arms aid to Ukraine, especially air defense systems. EU leaders agreed to provide 18 billion euros in financing to Ukraine next year and punished Moscow with the ninth package of sanctions.
The newest, President of US, Joe Biden announced the fourth delivery of arms aid to Ukraine worth US$1.8 billion on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. Biden and the US Congress pledged to Zelensky, who was visiting Washington, to help Ukraine pursue a just peace.
"For me as President, peace alone is not a compromise," Zelensky told reporters at the White House, his first visit abroad since the Russian invasion began last February, AP reported.
He said the war will end after Ukraine's sovereignty, freedom, and territorial integrity are restored, as well as retribution for all the damage inflicted by Russian aggression.
Before the US parliament, Zelensky stated that the money given by the US was not charity, but an investment in global security and democracy. Zelensky called the tens of billions of dollars in US military and economic aid provided over the past year critical to Ukraine's efforts to defeat Russia and asked for more in the future.
"Your money is not charity. It's an investment in global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way possible," he said, trying to reassure the House members in the room and the American people watching at home.
Russia and Ukraine have rejected a Christmas Day ceasefire. The two countries have also so far held no talks aimed at ending the conflict, the largest in Europe since the Second World War.
