Four Western leaders in Kyiv to show support on war anniversary

Four Western leaders arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to show solidarity with Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, which has cost tens of thousands of lives and ravaged the country's economy.

The prime ministers of Italy, Canada, and Belgium - Giorgia Meloni, Justin Trudeau, and Alexander De Croo - traveled with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on an overnight train from neighboring Poland.

Their presence was designed to underline the West's commitment to helping Ukraine even as it suffers growing shortages of military supplies, impacting its performance on the battlefield where Moscow is grinding out territorial gains.

Von der Leyen wrote on X that she was in Kyiv "to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people." She added: "More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine. Financially, economically, militarily, and morally. Until the country is finally free."

During their brief stay, Meloni and Trudeau are expected to sign security pacts with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in line with deals recently agreed with France and Germany that are worth billions of dollars.

However, $61 billion in aid promised by US President Joe Biden is being blocked by Republicans in Congress, casting a long shadow over Kyiv's hopes of pushing back the much larger, better-supplied Russian military.

Biden is due to take part in a video conference call of fellow leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies on Saturday, which will be chaired by Meloni, with Zelensky invited to join the discussion.

Italy holds the rotating presidency of the G7 and organized the call, saying it was vital to challenge perceptions that the West had grown weary of the conflict and that Russia was winning.

When Russian tanks and infantry streamed across the border before dawn on Feb. 24, 2022, Ukraine's 40 million people defied expectations - and the Kremlin's best-laid plans - by holding them back and preventing a widely predicted defeat.

But as the war enters its third year, setbacks on the eastern front have left the Ukrainian army looking vulnerable.

Seeking to maintain Western focus on Ukraine, even as the war between Israel and Hamas dominates headlines, Zelensky has warned that Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, may not stop at Ukraine's borders if it emerges victorious.

Putin dismisses such claims as nonsense. He casts the war as a wider struggle with the United States, which the Kremlin elite says aims to cleave Russia apart. The West sees the invasion as an unjustified act of aggression that must be repelled.

There will be events across Ukraine on Saturday to mark the anniversary, including a commemoration service for those who died in Bucha, north of Kyiv - the scene of some of the worst alleged war crimes of the conflict.

Ukraine's prosecutor general said on Friday it had launched investigations into more than 122,000 suspected war crimes cases in the last two years. Russia denies carrying them out.

The initial shock of the invasion gradually morphed into familiarity and then fatigue as the world watched initial Russian gains and a stunning Ukrainian counteroffensive in late 2022 slow into grinding, attritional trench warfare.

In scenes reminiscent of the battlefields of World War One, soldiers under heavy artillery fire are dying in their thousands, sometimes for a few kilometers of land.

Both sides have developed huge and increasingly sophisticated fleets of air, sea, and land drones for surveillance and attack, and the unprecedented use of unmanned vehicles could point the way to future conflicts.

Russia, with a much bigger population to replenish the army's ranks and a larger military budget, might favor a drawn-out war, although the costs have been huge for Moscow as it seeks to navigate sanctions and a growing reliance on China.

Ukraine's position is more precarious. Villages, towns, and cities have been razed, troops are exhausted, ammunition is running low, and Russian missiles and drones rain down almost daily.

Russia this month registered its biggest victory in nine months, capturing the eastern town of Avdiivka and ending months of deadly urban combat.

Yet Zelensky remained defiant ahead of the anniversary.

"I am convinced that victory awaits us," he told diplomats in Kyiv this week in an emotional address. "In particular, thanks to unity and your support."

Tens of thousands of troops have been killed on both sides and tens of thousands more wounded, while thousands of Ukrainian civilians have perished.

Reuters