Scholz on a year of Ukraine war: "The Russian President has failed"

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Chancellor Scholz: "Everything we do is done in close consultation"

Photo: IMAGO/Florian Gaertner/photothek.de / IMAGO/photothek

The international community calls for Russia's withdrawal from Ukraine by a large majority.

On the anniversary of the invasion, Kiev's most important supporters are once again emphasizing their unity - and pledged further support.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD)

said in a video message published on Twitter in the morning that Germany would support Ukraine in defending its freedom as strongly and for as long as necessary.

"Anyone who looks back on the past year will see that the Russian President failed," said Scholz.

Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin had opted for division and had the opposite effect.

“Ukraine is more united than ever.

The European Union stands together," said Scholz.

According to the chancellor, Germany had "many things done pretty well."

They have made themselves independent of Russian energy, there is enough gas and oil and the economy is not in a deep recession.

The Chancellor also acknowledged the great willingness to help of the Germans, who had taken in more than a million Ukrainian refugees.

"I would like to thank everyone who made this possible," said Scholz.

Meanwhile , his colleague in the cabinet,

, pushed for a better distribution of Ukrainian war refugees within the EU.

Should the Russian war of aggression lead to further large-scale refugee movements from the Ukraine, "a fairer distribution in Europe will be inevitable," Faeser told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

"Then our Eastern European neighbors, but also we, must be relieved," said Faeser.

So far, Poland has taken in over 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees, Germany over a million, but Spain only 160,000.

According to

a normalization of economic relations with Russia is currently unthinkable.

"There can be no business as usual with Russia - and there will be no business as usual with Russia in the future as long as this brutal war continues," Lindner said on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Bengaluru, India.

The Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 on the orders of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.

Since then, according to Western estimates, the war has resulted in the deaths of 150,000 people on both sides, while millions more have been forced to flee.

French President Emmanuel Macron

pledged continued support for Ukraine on the anniversary of the start of the war.

"Ukrainians, France stands by your side," Macron wrote on Twitter.

»To solidarity, victory and peace.«

Great Britain imposes new sanctions

A year after the start of the Russian invasion, Great Britain

imposes new export restrictions against Russia.

The sanctions relate, among other things, to aircraft parts, radios and electronic components that could be used by the Russian defense industry to manufacture drones, for example.

The EU and the USA also wanted to announce new sanctions on Friday.

"Today we sanction the elites running Putin's key industries and pledge to ban the export to Russia of all items that Russia has used on the battlefield," said Secretary of State James Cleverly.

"Ukrainians are about to turn the tide against Russia, but they cannot do it alone," the minister said.

According to his party,

Ukrainian President

sent an emotional message to his compatriots on Friday morning.

»On February 24 millions of us made a decision«, wrote Zelenskyj: »Not to flee, but to surrender.

Resist and Fight«.

»It was a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity«

fek/Reuters/AFP