Ukraine remains defiant one year to the day since Russia's horrific invasion
Ukraine's president and citizens remained undaunted tonight as the anniversary of Russia's invasion loomed.
A quiet tension fell over Kyiv and many expected a barrage of missiles across the nation.
All day, Russia had launched salvos at Ukrainian troops and civilians taking shelter in the east.
Kyiv’s usually bustling streets fell quiet as locals hurried home.
Air raid sirens were tested and the city’s bomb shelters were prepared for a major bombardment of cruise missiles and drones.
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President Zelensky spoke online about the memories war leaves.
He said: “They remind us of the path we have gone on from February to February.
Crowds during a United With Ukraine vigil in Trafalgar Square, London, tonight (PA)“We have overcome many ordeals and we will prevail.
“We will hold to account all those who brought this evil, this war to our land. All the terror, all the killings, torture, looting.
“Russia has chosen the path of the murderer. The path of the terrorist. The path of the torturer. The path of the looter.
“There will be state responsibility for the terror committed.”
Earlier, staff and evacuees at the Depaul Kyiv Day Centre recalled escaping their home cities amid intense shelling as war started.
The centre, supported by the British Embassy, provides emergency aid for refugees including shelter, food and clothes.
Sergiy, from Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv in the north east, fled to the capital soon after Russian troops stormed over the border.
Unbowed and defiant, he said: “I expect victory in the near future.
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President Zelensky gave a speech at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez today (SERGEY DOLZHENKO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)“I feel calm and I feel at peace because I know that we did everything we could to help internally displaced people. Ukrainian people are unbreakable and we don’t feel fear any more at all.”
Recalling the moment Russia shocked the world with its horrific invasion he said: “Everything looked like an apocalyptic movie.
“Everything was on fire and there was smoke everywhere.
“The war started at five in the morning, when rockets started flying over my head and I heard very loud explosions.
“The windows were blown out in my apartment complex.” Tetyana, who was a chef in Kharkiv, fled to Kyiv on February 24 with her eight-year-old daughter and son, 12.
She said: “We’re just hoping for the victory, and we’re not making any long-term plans. We’re not going to leave Ukraine."
Tetyana urged people in the UK and other western nations not to forget Ukraine’s struggle.
Ukrainian recruits and their British Armed Forces trainers posing for a photograph in southern England on Thursday (Getty Images)Olga Shevchenko, humanitarian director at the Depaul Kyiv Day Centre, said: “I don’t have to feel like a victim or that everything was taken away from me.
“Being able to help others and build a future together and have hopes together is very uplifting for everyone.”
Last night crowds gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square to show solidarity with Ukraine.
British businessman and expat Peter Dickinson, 47, has been in Kyiv for 25 years. He lives here with his Ukrainian wife Sana, 40 and daughters, 12 and 15.
He told the Mirror: “I expect the Russians will fire missiles all over Ukraine but nobody knows how bad it will or will not be. It’s an eerie feeling facing another February 24 after what happened this time last year.
“I woke at 5am to the sound of cruise missiles blowing up a local airfield and got the family out quickly.”
He and other family members then spent 35 hours driving in convoy to the Carpathian Mountains to take shelter before heading to the Czech Republic.
Mirror Defence editor Chris Hughes in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)After a few months they returned to find their home untouched.
He says: “We were lucky.”
Hundreds of miles east, Russia was sending Wagner Group mercenaries and regular troops into battle.
Kyiv’s intelligence agencies believe 145,000 Russian troops have died in the year since, taking with them tens of thousands of Ukrainians.
Moscow’s soldiers also face a huge number of accusations including rape, torture, abduction and murder.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he was “open” to sending more British tanks to Kyiv, while suggesting Ukraine was likely to receive MiG-29 fighter jets from Nato members.
Including wounded, he estimated Russian casualties at 188,000.
But he said Vladimir Putin seemed happy to sacrifice his troops and added: “I think he is not going to stop.”
Former PM Boris Johnson has stepped up calls for Britain to supply fighter jets, saying the UK should “break the ice” and send Typhoons.
Last night there were reports of five Russian warships in the Black Sea armed with cruise missiles.
'Make warmonger pay to rebuild cities'
- Comment, by Sir Chris Bryant, MP for Rhondda
Somebody is going to have to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The UK and other countries have already been generous.
We’ve given support to Ukrainian refugees – and we’re giving them military support.
But Russia should pay to rebuild schools, bridges and apartment blocks it has pulverised.
The Russian State has large sums all around the world, including £26billion in British banks. The UK and our allies have frozen those assets.
Memorials to the fallen soldiers in Kyiv are pictured on Thursday (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)We should now go one step further and seize those assets and use them for rebuilding Ukraine.
They will make a dent in the estimated $1trillion costs. Frankly it is the least Russia owes Ukraine. That’s why I’ve proposed a law that would require the UK Government to set out proposals for doing that.
It has support from MPs from all parties. Other countries are considering similar measures. Canada already has such a law. The EU is looking at €350bn in European banks. My law could go through the Commons today. We could then debate it line by line in committee.
The Government are trying to make sure it goes nowhere. But Ukraine needs help now and it’s time they woke up to that reality.
Family who fled Ukraine praise UK kindness
A family who fled Ukraine for the UK have praised the kindness shown to them by British people.
Pavlo Romaniukha, 41, moved to Sheffield last May with wife Rymma Parkhomenko-Romaniukha, 31, and their 10-year-old son Dmytro.
He told how his sponsor family put them up, helped them find jobs, a house and even invited them back for Christmas.
Pavlo said: “English people are like an example of kindness. They open their houses to strangers.”
Ukrainian refugees Pavlo Romaniukha (left) with his wife Rymma and their son Dmytro (PA)But he urged the West to keep supplying Kyiv with weapons and warned Vladimir Putin will not stop with Ukraine. He added: “If we lost now, who would be next?”
Pavlo was working in Poland when the Russians invaded.
His wife and son fled Ukraine two months later to join him.
They moved to South Yorkshire under a scheme to pair up displaced Ukrainians with UK families. The family now live in the Netherthorpe area.
Pavlo is working as a fork-lift driver and Rymma as a cleaner.
Dmytro attends the local primary school.
Speaking about the war, he said: “There was always a lot of time with the sound of alarms for bombs coming to our city.
“The Russians could shoot at schools and we could die every minute, so we were so scared.”
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