Ukraine’s military said it had repelled dozens of Russian offensives in the country’s east and northeast ahead of the war’s first anniversary. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed confidence in the victory. His country will focus more on the “nuclear triangle”.

The Ukrainian military announced Thursday morning that its forces had repelled 90 attacks by Russian forces in the east and northeast in the past 24 hours.

And an Al-Jazeera reporter cited Ukrainian military sources as saying that the Russian Wagner group has intensified its attacks on fighting axes in the strategic city of Bagmut in the east of the country.

Sources say that Wagner made progress on the village of Birkivka, north of Pakmut, but suffered heavy material and human losses.

Commenting on developments on the ground, US Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Russia had only taken control of a few villages in its latest offensive in eastern Ukraine “at great cost”.

Meanwhile, Ukraine closed some schools in anticipation of long-range missile strikes on the war’s anniversary tomorrow, Friday, February 24, but officials in Kiev say they believe Russia no longer has the capacity to show force. On a large scale.

Projections of Ukrainian intelligence

“Nothing out of the ordinary will happen. A normal (Russian) attempt… a planned small missile attack,” the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Krylo Budanov, told Ukrainian news website Ukrainska Pravda.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “We are not broken. We have overcome many trials and we will win. We will hold accountable all those who brought this evil, this war to our land.”

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about Moscow’s plans to increase his country’s nuclear arsenal and military industrialization in general – in a video clip in honor of Father’s Day, Defender of the Fatherland Day.

Regarding the ability to launch nuclear missiles from land, sea and air, Putin said, “We will focus more on strengthening the nuclear triad.”

“We will continue large-scale production of Kinjal supersonic systems and start processing large deliveries of Zircon hypersonic sea-launched missiles,” he said.

Putin promised that this year would witness the entry into service of the Sarmat system, a new multi-head intercontinental ballistic missile that the Russian president described as capable of defeating all air defense systems.

Sarmat Missile

Citing US officials, CNN reported that Russia tested a Sarmat missile ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine, but the test failed. The Kremlin declined to comment on the news, warning of “provocations” by the West.

In his speech, Putin saw the military as a “guarantee” for the stability, future and sovereignty of the Russian state, pledging to increase production of all types of conventional weapons.

On the other hand, the finance ministers of the G7 countries – meeting in the Indian city of Bengaluru – said that they increased the economic support of Ukraine to $ 39 billion based on its need.

In a statement, the ministers said sanctions on Russia had severely undermined its ability to wage an “illegal” war.

On the other hand, the United Nations General Assembly is expected to issue a resolution to end the war ahead of the first anniversary of the outbreak of the war.

Ukraine hopes three-quarters of countries in the General Assembly will vote in favor of the resolution, increasing Russia’s diplomatic isolation. Moscow described the draft resolution as unbalanced.