Ukraine’s leader vowed Wednesday that his country would stand tall against any invasion, as both he and NATO warned they could see no sign that Russia is withdrawing its forces.
President Volodymyr Zelensky watched troops training with some of their new Western-supplied anti-tank weapons on a range near Rivne, west of the capital.
Then he travelled to the frontline port city of Mariupol, and gave a speech to mark what he had declared Ukraine’s “Day of Unity”, wearing a military-style olive green coat and vowing resistance.
“We are not afraid of forecasts, we are not afraid of anyone, of any enemies,” Zelensky said. “We will defend ourselves.”
The demonstration of Ukrainian firepower and rhetoric contrasted with images on Russian state media that were said to show Moscow’s forces bringing an end to a major exercise in occupied Crimea.
But Zelensky denied that this was a sign of a Russian pullback.
“We are seeing small rotations. I would not call these rotations the withdrawal of forces by Russia. We cannot say that,” he said in televised comments, adding: “We see no change.”
In Rivne, missiles pounded targets and armoured vehicles manoeuvred and fired on the yellowing moorland, while in Kyiv hundreds of civilians marched in a stadium with an enormous national banner.
The “Day of Unity” displays came as the Kremlin called for “serious negotiations” with Washington, and European leaders pushed hard for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
But NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who hosted a meeting of the alliance’s defence ministers in Brussels, dismissed suggestions that the threat on the border had diminished.
He said the alliance would shore up its eastern defences with forward deployments in member states bordering Ukraine.
“Moscow has made it clear that it is prepared to contest the fundamental principles that have underpinned our security for decades and to do so by using force,” he said.
“I regret to say that this is the new normal in Europe.”
And on reported Russian troop movements, he said: “So far we do not see any sign of de-escalation on the ground; no withdrawals of troops or equipment.