February 24, 2024
Two years of continuous war have had an impact on Ukrainian students in the UK, such as Elya Aliieva.
She came to the UK as part of the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme and studies at the University of Warwick.
Elya, from Kharkiv, says she’s gotten used to the fact war is happening.
“With my parents, it’s just become such a normalised thing to talk about,” she tells BBC Newsbeat.
Elya says the stress of deadlines people face at uni is nothing compared to the worries of war.
“I have to call my parents up and ask if they’re alive today. It’s a totally different reality," she adds.
Looking ahead, she is hopeful things are going to improve.
“And the war is going to be over.
“That’s what keeps us going, the hope that everything’s going to be good one day,” she says.
Organisers of a march taking place in central London have started gathering and setting up here at Marble Arch station.
The main organiser of the rally, Natalia Ravlyuk, told me she wants to remind the world what’s happening in Ukraine.
“We are here to ask for urgent help," she says.
"The war in Ukraine is not over and Russians are killing us every single day. They’re targeting civilians.
“Please help us to stop Russia where they are - before they come to European borders.”
She says military aid is what’s urgently needed.
“We need long-range missiles, we need fighter jets, we need more ammunition so our soldiers can fight and do their job.”
King Charles III has praised the "determination and strength" of the Ukrainian people in a message marking the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, the King says he was "greatly encouraged" by the UK's efforts to support Ukraine and commended their "true valour".
He adds:
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, Zelensky has been focused on keeping the world's attention on Ukraine.
On Friday, the US on Friday announced more than 500 new sanctions against Russia - both over its invasion of Ukraine and the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
These include measures against Russia's main card payment system, financial and military institutions, and officials involved in Navalny's imprisonment.
The EU has also announced new sanctions on access to military technology.
The measures mark a week since Navalny suddenly died in an Arctic Circle jail.
US President Joe Biden, who met Navalny's widow and daughter in San Francisco on Thursday, has said there can be "no doubt" the Russian president was to blame for his death.
The newly-announced US measures also include nearly 100 firms and individuals which will also face export restrictions.
We've just received some more pictures from the overnight drone attack in Odesa.
At least one person has been killed and three others injured in the southern port city.
World leaders drew on the symbolic power of their setting at Hostomel Airport while paying tribute to Ukraine at a press conference alongside President Zelensky.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the airfield as a symbol of Moscow’s failure and Ukrainian pride.
“Heroic gestures by a few men changed the course of history. One of them took place here on 24 February two years ago," she added.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “Putin was sure he could easily take strategic targets like this airport.
"Russian forces tried to make quick work of Hostomel Airport…Standing here today, you can see that he was wrong.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised the Ukrainian troops who defended the country in the early days of the invasion and confounded expectations about their ability to withhold Russia’s invasion force.
She said: “Kyiv stood strong. Your courage stood in Putin’s way. You did not flee or flinch. A small contingent of Ukrainian heroes held back the invader, fighting until your last bullet and last breath.
“You managed to stop Russia’s attack to the heart of Ukraine. You saved your country, you saved all of Europe.”
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo recognised the “devastation, loss of life…trauma and pain” of the law two years, but said Ukraine’s allies stood “shoulder to shoulder” with its government.
Let's bring you the words of Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president spoke a short while ago from Hostomel, the site of the first major battle of the war.
He has been reflecting on the two years that have passed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Zelensky says that two years ago "we met hostile landing with fire here", but two years later "we welcome our friends and partners here".
"We have become 730 days closer to victory," he says, and tells Ukrainians to "keep fighting – you are sure to win!"
"You can burn the plane, but you cannot destroy our dream. The dream with which each one of us has been falling asleep and waking up for 730 days.
"None of us will allow our Ukraine to end," Zelensky says, and adds that in future, "next to the word Ukraine, the word 'independent' will always stand".
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s former prime minister, says victory against Russia is about saving the entire western civilisation, “the free world”.
Speaking to the BBC's Lyse Doucet, he says “words matter, but action is needed” if Ukraine, and its allies, are to prevail.
“This war is not just about Ukraine and Russia. This is the war that war criminal [Vladimir] Putin waged against Nato, the western civilisation and against humanity. So, we are desperate in trying to get this support from our partners,” he adds.
Yatsenyuk says that just 10 minutes ago, he spoke to a friend on the front line near Bakhmut, which fell to Russian forces after a hard-fought, nine-month long battle.
“It is my duty to send him a strong signal that, ‘folks, we will prevail’. The mood is quite gloomy, frankly speaking.”
He continues: “We - the entire western world, the free world - are not allowed to lose this war. We can win, because this is a righteous fight.
“But we desperately need ammunition, we desperately need support from our western allies.”
He says he also spoke to Americans friends, and told them it could take two months. He says he told them: "Folks, we are on the brink."
As we reported earlier, several Western leaders travelled to Ukraine together on Saturday to show solidarity with Volodymyr Zelensky.
Here are the latest photos we've seen of Ukraine's President Zelensky with the four leaders - Italy's Giorgia Meloni, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Belgium’s Alexander De Croo, as well as President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
The arrival of former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made Kyiv feel slightly 2022, but this is a different war now.
The former leader has arrived along with the current prime ministers of Italy, Canada and Belgium, as well as President of the European Commission Ursula Von De Leyen.
Ukrainian President Zelensky’s diplomatic treadmill has never stopped, but he’s having to work harder than ever to keep the world’s eyes on Russia’s invasion.
There are some glaring omissions, however. There are no senior US representatives present, unlike when President Biden visited last year.
What’s being felt more is the $60bn military aid package which is blocked in Congress.
It’s mostly why, unlike last year, there is no talk of an upcoming counter-offensive. The diplomatic dialogue is now focusing on bigger questions of what it would mean if Ukraine lost.
That’s an unbearable prospect for most Ukrainians - for a Russian win would be to cease to exist.
There is no perceived middle ground either.
A lack of trust means Kyiv sees any ceasefire as not being worth the paper it’s written on.
There have been statements of support for Ukraine at the United Nations, promises of military aid to come and further sanctions on Russia.
But none of that can hide the fact this war, for now at least, seems to be moving Moscow's way.
Ukrainian troops are tired, they don't have enough ammunition, their political masters are beginning to squabble.
Western governments, distracted by events elsewhere, hesitate before giving Kyiv the military support it needs.
All the while, Russian troops inch forward, their country's economy firmly on a war footing.
Two years on, this conflict also poses broader questions about America's reliability as an ally, Europe's ability to defend itself - and what some see as their double standards towards Ukraine and Gaza.
And yet, for all that, Russian losses are mounting, especially in the Black Sea, and Ukrainian defensive resolve remains undimmed.
So, for now, this war of attrition will continue at great cost in blood and treasure, with for both sides no clear path to victory, let alone political settlement.
Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has been visiting troops on the frontline in the Russian-occupied Ukraine.
According to AFP, he told the troops "in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side".
He was also briefed on Russian troops "continuing their advance" after taking Avdiivka.
Russian Defence Ministry said Shoigu visited a military command centre, with pictures appearing to show him inspecting what Russia said was military equipment captured by Russian troops.
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and Ukraine’s former world heavyweight boxing champion, has been speaking to BBC Radio 4 about the mood in the Ukrainian capital two years since the Russian full-scale invasion began.
"It's been a long, long time," he tells the Today programme. "Sometimes in Kyiv we have the illusion of peaceful times. But any second we can hear air alarms and everyone has to go immediately into shelters.
"No one has the guarantee of safety in Ukraine."
Recalling the early days of the Russian invasion, Klitschko says the "whole world was surprised by the spirit of Ukrainian soldiers".
"Experts at the beginning of the war gave us a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks, to [hold out] against one of the biggest armies in the world. But we have already successfully for two years defended our homeland."
Klitschko turns to the matter of Western aid and military support, saying Ukraine needs "much, much more" - "we have a deficit of ammunition," he adds.
Asked if Ukraine risks losing the war if the US doesn't step up its aid contributions, he replies: "We have to fight to defend our homes, our families."
He adds that support for Kyiv is "not just important for Ukraine, but for the democratic world".
Political leaders in the UK have reaffirmed their support for Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said Britain was prepared to do "whatever it takes" and has pledged almost £250m towards producing artillery shells.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said President Vladimir Putin's "cowardice and barbarity" would not prevail.
It comes a day after the UK announced further sanctions against Russia.
Sunak, who visited Kyiv last month to sign a new security agreement and announce £2.5bn of military aid to Ukraine over the coming year, has said "we must renew our determination" on this "grim anniversary".
The commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, has shared his gratitude to the people defending his country, on messaging app Telegram.
"Every shell, every tank, every armoured vehicle is primarily about preserving the life of a Ukrainian soldier," he says.
Syrskyi says he believes in the near future Ukraine will give an "asymmetric response to the Russian occupier in the air" and adds "there will be even more burning Russian planes".
He concludes by saying "unity is our victory" and "light always overcomes darkness".
There has been no official reaction from Moscow to the claims that Ukraine has shot down a Russian A-50 spy plane.
Yesterday Russian media said that “an unidentified aircraft has crashed in the Krasnodar region” but didn’t specify the type of the plane and causes of the crash.
Ukrainian military intelligence agency GUR has provided an audio of what they claim is the conversation of a Su-35 crew that was accompanying the A-50 in order to shield it from attacks.
In the alleged intercepted call, the pilot says that he was watching the work of the air defence while “Bayan (the code name of the A-50 plane) was away [from me] and then explosions [occurred]. After that I had to manoeuvre…” The BBC cannot verify the authenticity of the audio.
Russian military bloggers, however, claim that the plane crashed because of “friendly fire”, that Russian air defence systems shot down that plane by mistake.
Interestingly, they made the same claim last month when Russia lost another A-50 plane along with an airborne command centre Il-22.
The loss of an A-50 plane is a massive blow for Russian forces. Its purpose is to detect airborne targets at long distances and coordinate aerial attacks and air defence operations.
According to the Military Balance 2022 report, Russia had six A-50U planes and three more planes of an older make.
Those three planes are reportedly not fit for combat and therefore not used in the war in Ukraine.
In 2023, Belarusian activists severely damaged one of such planes stationed at an air base near Minsk. And this year alone Russia appears to have lost two more.
It means that they probably have only three operational A-50 planes left now.
An artillery commander near the town of Kupyansk says Russian forces are now using glide bombs – dropped from jets far behind the frontlines – to devastating effect.
“These air bombs are our main problem. They’re hitting us constantly. We were trying to move positions… and about ten bombs hit us. This happens almost every day,” said Oleksandr, 26, a senior lieutenant commanding an artillery battery in Ukraine’s 57th Brigade.
Kupyansk, towards the northern end of Ukraine’s frontlines, was seized by Russia and then liberated in 2022. It is one of several areas now being targeted aggressively by the Kremlin’s forces as they probe Ukraine’s defensive positions for weaknesses.
“At this stage we are managing to hold them back,” said Oleksandr. Unlike many other artillery units, he had enough ammunition at present, but acknowledged “problems” with personnel and recruitment.
“A quarter of our soldiers are aged fifty or older. And we just don’t have enough people,” he said.
On the eve of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion, Ukraine's foreign minister accused Russia of ignoring the will of the world.
Speaking at the UN Security Council in New York on Friday, Dmytro Kuleba said global security had "only deteriorated" over the last two years.
"One of the reasons for this is the bleeding wound in the heart of Europe," he added.
He continued by saying "unfortunately, Russia ignores the will of the global majority".
Russia "continues its aggression and throws more and more men into the flames of war," he said.
In a show of unity, Kuleba also delivered a joint statement with his fellow foreign ministers from countries including the UK, Spain, France, Canada, the Netherlands and Slovenia.
The UK's Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has been speaking to BBC Breakfast this morning.
He says Britain will "stand by Ukrainians to the end" and adds it's important to send the message that a country that invades another's territory "cannot be successful".
However, Shapps also says he's "concerned about the money from the United States".
Earlier this week, the US Senate approved a $95bn (£75bn) foreign aid package - which includes $60bn for Ukraine - after months of political wrangling.
But it still faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives, where members of the Republican Party are divided on the measure.
Shapps says it is in America's "self interest" to continue helping Ukraine with financial support, adding that "others are watching - a more assertive China is watching".
Ukraine launched a drone attack overnight on a steel plant belonging to Russia's Novolipetsk RAO.
The attack was a joint operation by the GUR military intelligence agency and SBU security service, a Ukrainian source has said, according to Reuters.
There has been a major fire at the plant in Lipetsk, which is located approximately 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, Staff have been evacuated, the source adds.
We'll bring you more on this as we get it.
Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat
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