Kyiv warns against appeasement of Moscow; Russia insists on imminent victory and lowers the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

Ukraine and Russia both said they would fight to victory as they marked 1,000 days of war.

kyiv insisted Tuesday that it would “never submit” in its defense against Moscow’s invasion, and warned that the world must not offer any appeasement to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has made similar statements and once again engaged in a nuclear controversy.

“Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers and the Russian army will be punished for violating international law,” the Kyiv Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In a statement to the United Nations Security Council, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called 1,000 days a “very high number.”

“On the one hand, this proves Ukrainian bravery in the face of Russia’s brutal aggression. (…) On the other hand, this figure proves the failure of the international community, including this precious council, to put an end to wars of aggression and atrocities,” he said.

As the new US administration of Donald Trump may begin peace negotiations with Putin next year, Yevheniia Filipenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, warned in an interview with the Reuters news agency that “Putin doesn’t want peace.”

“He considers these attempts (to start negotiations) as a weakness. And what we need now is not weakness and appeasement. We need strength,” she said.

1,000 days of resilience. 1,000 days of bravery. 1,000 days spent defending our lives and homes during the full-scale phase of the Russian invasion. More than 10 years of Russia’s war against Ukraine – against our people, our sovereignty and our freedom. pic.twitter.com/ukk6GFyFc0

— MFA of Ukraine (@MFA_Ukraine) November 19, 2024

In addition, Putin approved an update to Russia’s nuclear doctrine on Tuesday. The document said Russia could consider using nuclear weapons if subjected to a conventional missile attack backed by a nuclear power.

The move is the Kremlin’s response to reports that US President Joe Biden has decided to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles supplied by Washington to strike deep into Russia.

Putin’s spokesman later told reporters that Moscow was confident of victory in what it called the “special military operation” it launched in February 2022 with a full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

“The military operation against kyiv continues… and will be completed,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Attack on Sumy

As the grim anniversary passed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that seven people, including a child, had been killed by a nighttime drone attack in the northeastern Sumy region, bordering Russia’s Kursk region. .

The strike, which hit a residential building in the small town of Hloukhiv, also injured 12 people, the Sumy military administration said on Telegram.

“Each new Russian strike only confirms Putin’s true intentions. He wants the war to continue, he is not interested in talking about peace,” Zelensky said.

On Monday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it had found traces of tear gas in samples taken last month from the front line in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

The use of riot control agents such as tear gas as a method of warfare is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention, the non-proliferation treaty overseen by the OPCW.

The UN body did not assign responsibility. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday blamed Russia and urged its partners to act.