KYIV — President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was proud of the “absolute heroism” shown by the Ukrainian people in withstanding three years of unprovoked Russian aggression, as European leaders gathered in Kyiv on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Moscow’s full-blown war.

“Three years of resistance. Three years of gratitude. Three years of absolute heroism of Ukrainians,” Zelensky said on X, while expressing his “eternal gratitude to the fallen heroes.”

Zelensky also shared a somber video of top European leaders placing lanterns at a Kyiv memorial, decked out with dozens of flags of Ukraine and its allies.

While European leaders tried to convey unity – announcing a new support package for Ukraine, with the United Kingdom also unveiling new sanctions against Moscow – the continent is now facing the prospect of resisting Russia alone, following the extraordinary blows dealt by the Trump administration to the transatlantic alliance.

On Monday, the United States abstained from voting for its own resolution at the United Nations General Assembly after several amendments were added to strengthen the language against Russia and reaffirm Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

The amended resolution, which included new language blaming Russia for the invasion, was then adopted by the UN General Assembly.

The original draft resolution did not call Russia the aggressor in the war or acknowledge Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Last week, after Ukraine was not invited to US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump echoed Kremlin disinformation about how the war in Ukraine began and later called Zelensky a dictator. European leaders held an emergency meeting in Paris, as they grappled for the first time in decades with how to bolster the continent’s security without US assistance.

On the streets of Kyiv, however, Ukrainians have remained defiant. Asked to reflect on the war’s third anniversary, Taras Berezovets, a major in Ukraine’s army, told CNN it would be better to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin “about his feelings, because he was planning to occupy Kyiv in three days… But instead of this, he’s now in the fourth year of this war. He occupied only about 20% of Ukrainian territory.”

Thinking back to times before February 24, 2022, Kateryna Andreeva, a 35-year-old bank worker, said Ukraine is now “a completely different country,” with “completely different people.”

“We have undergone a very big transformation and we are going through it every day in our actions, in our thoughts, in our, let’s say, goals,” said Andreeva, who has a child with a soldier currently fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

“We have become stronger. We are fighting for independence, but we have become more independent of everything and everyone,” she said.

Going it alone

Although few European leaders mentioned Trump by name, the US president cast a long shadow over the anniversary summit in the Ukrainian capital.

Last week, Trump said Zelensky “should never have started” the war in Ukraine, repeating Russia’s false claims that Kyiv – not Moscow – was to blame for the invasion.

Addressing more than a dozen leaders Monday, Zelensky reiterated that Russia’s war was “absolutely unprovoked.”

“It is important not to hide this knowledge and to call a spade a spade,” he said.

At press conference later Monday, Zelensky said he hopes the US will continue its support for Ukraine and said it was important “not to lose unity” between the US and Europe.

Ursula Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said Ukraine was invaded for “no reason except Putin’s imperial obsession,” warning that the Russian leader’s goal “remains Ukraine’s capitulation.”

Without mentioning Trump by name, Von der Leyen appeared to push back on other false claims by the president that US support to Ukraine amounted to some $350 billion. The actual figure is about $119 billion, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

Von der Leyen said the European Union and its member states had provided €135 billion ($141 billion) in support for Ukraine since February 2022.

“That is more than anybody else,” she stressed, while announcing a new €3.5 billion ($3.7 billion) payment for Ukraine to arrive by March 2.

‘Europe is waking up’

Meanwhile, a deal that could grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as part of wider negotiations to end Russia’s invasion is getting closer.

Olga Stefanishyna, Ukrainian deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said teams from Kyiv and Washington “are in the final stages of negotiations regarding the minerals agreement.”

A Ukrainian source familiar with the negotiation told CNN that the US was “very much resisting the inclusion of security guarantees” in the agreement, but that Kyiv hoped these could be discussed in a future meeting between Zelensky and Trump.

“Everything is ready from our side,” said the source. “We have finalized the draft. We have done as much as we can to make the conditions reasonable.”

Trump said in a Monday post on social media that the deal would “ensure the American people recoup the Tens of Billions of Dollars and Military Equipment sent to Ukraine, while also helping Ukraine’s economy grow as this Brutal and Savage War comes to an end.” He also said he is discussing “major” economic deals with Putin.

On the streets of Kyiv, some Ukrainians told CNN they had lost faith in the US as an ally, following talks between Washington and Moscow about Ukraine, without Kyiv’s involvement.

“We need help, but of course from our European partners. I’m not counting on America,” Anna Anisimova, a 45-year-old police officer, told CNN.

Yuriy Bilopolsky, a 75-year-old pensioner, said he felt Ukraine was being “given up” on. He said he twice tried to enlist in Ukraine’s military, but was rejected.

“We were hoping for America, but now they are just giving us up and that’s it. And Europe was asleep after the Second World War. It is only now waking up.” said Bilopolsky.

The-CNN-Wire
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