KYIV — Air raid sirens were ringing in Kyiv and other regions across Ukraine on Thursday morning, as officials reported that more than 100 missiles were incoming in several waves. A series of loud booms could be heard in Kyiv, and local officials said that air defenses were working in the Kyiv, Odessa and Zhytomyr regions.
In his year-end address to parliament, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed confidence and hope while speaking about the impact 10 months of war have had on his country. “Our national colors are today an international symbol of courage and indomitability of the whole world,” he said. “In any country, on any continent, when they see blue and yellow, they know that it is about freedom.”
“We helped the West find itself again,” Zelensky added, speaking to efforts from Western nations to support Ukrainian with military and humanitarian aid. The president, who recently had prominent meetings with American and French officials, also called for negotiations regarding Ukraine’s membership to the European Union and praised Ukraine’s “heroic warriors” for defining “new NATO standards.”
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
3. From our correspondents
In a months-long examination Isabelle Khurshudyan, Paul Sonne, Serhiy Morgunov and Kamila Hrabchuk reconstructed the Kharkiv and Kherson counteroffensives through 35 interviews with Ukrainian commanders, officials, combat troops as well as senior U.S. and European military and political officials. They show how “undermanned and underequipped” Russian forces failed to hold vast swaths of territory, surprising the Kremlin and validating Ukraine’s supporters.
“Our relationship with all of our partners changed immediately,” Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, who commanded the Kharkiv offensive, told The Washington Post. “That is, they saw that we could achieve victory — and the help they were providing was being used with effect.”
Ables reported from Seoul.
