Thousands of people demonstrated in France on Saturday to show their support for Ukraine, two years after the invasion of the country by Moscow's troops.
In Paris and in around ten other French cities, Ukrainians and French people, often wrapped in the yellow and blue flag of Ukraine, gathered to express their solidarity but also their concern at a time when the forces of Kiev, lacking weapons and ammunition, are in a very difficult position facing Russian troops.
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This Sunday, Ukraine is holding a forum to mark the two years of the Russian offensive, during which kyiv reminds its Western allies of the importance of keeping their commitments to help their defense.
“50% of commitments are not delivered on time”
Half of the Western weapons promised to Ukraine are being delivered late, Ukrainian Defense Minister Roustem Umerov said on Sunday.
“Currently a commitment is not synonymous with delivery, 50% of (these) commitments are not delivered on time
,” the minister declared during a forum dedicated to the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Because of these delays,
“we are losing people, we would lose territories
,” he added.
The Ukrainian army, faced with an extremely difficult situation on the front, has just withdrawn from its fortress town of Avdiïvka (East) after months of tough fighting, citing a lack of men and ammunition.
Also read: War in Ukraine: why arms deliveries have not changed the situation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged his Western allies in recent days to deliver military aid
"on time"
, calling in particular for ammunition, more air defense systems and combat aircraft.
The Ukrainian president also estimated that delays in arms deliveries had contributed to the failure of kyiv's counter-offensive in the summer of 2023.
Rishi Sunak calls for seizure of frozen Russian assets
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday called on the West to be
“bolder”
in seizing frozen Russian assets to redistribute them to Ukraine, and pleaded for initially sending the interests from these assets to Kiev.
“We must be bolder in seizing hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets
,” wrote the head of the British government in a column published by the
Sunday Times
on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.
“It starts by taking the billions in interest that these assets generate and sending them to Ukraine
,” argues Rishi Sunak.
“And then, together with the G7, we need to find legal ways to seize the assets themselves and also send these funds to Ukraine
,” he added.
“What a tribute it would be to Alexei Navalny's fight to hold the Russian state accountable for its actions
,” he added, referring to the opponent who recently died in a prison in the Russian Arctic.
Read alsoWashington unveils its largest salvo of sanctions against Russia since the start of the war
In their statement on Saturday following a virtual summit under the Italian presidency, G7 leaders asked their governments to continue working
“on all possible avenues through which Russian sovereign assets could be used to support Ukraine, in accordance with our respective legal systems and international law
.
They reaffirm that
“Russian sovereign assets in (their) jurisdictions will remain immobilized until Russia pays for the damage caused to Ukraine”
.
On January 30, the European Union - which froze 200 billion euros of the assets of the Central Bank of Russia - reached agreement on the first stage of a plan to allocate the income generated by frozen Russian assets to the reconstruction of Ukraine.
The option of confiscating this money and devoting it to Ukraine's reconstruction efforts is ruled out, on the grounds that it would risk shaking international markets and weakening the euro.