Russia warns it will ‘gain world’s attention’ on first anniversary of Ukraine war, as the Kremlin was said to be preparing to launch a new offensive with up to 500,000 conscripts.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Moscow would take great measures to overshadow anti-Russia events allegedly being planned by the West to mark the war’s anniversary on Feb. 24.
“Our diplomacy will do everything to ensure that the anti-Russian sabbaths planned for the end of February — as if timed to coincide with the anniversary of the special military operation, both in New York and at other sites that the West is now actively working on together with the Kyiv regime — so that this will not turn out to be the only events that will gain the world’s attention,” the country’s top envoy said in a wide-ranging interview to state TV Russia 24 and RIA Novosti.
Vladimir Putin’s chief representative revealed that Russia is working on “reports” detailing the events of the past year surrounding the invasion of Ukraine, including allegations of “direct participation” of the US in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline linking Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
Lavrov provided no evidence of American involvement in the pipeline explosions, which Russia had previously been blamed on the UK.
Lavrov’s saber-rattling comes just three weeks before the world marks the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv expects Putin to “attempt something” on Feb. 24, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told France’s BFM network.
According to Reznikov, Russia has massed “close to 500,000 troops” in preparation for the looming onslaught, which the minister said could take place on two fronts: in the Donbas region in the east and in the south "Officially", they announced 300,000 (conscripts) but when we see the troops at the borders, according to our assessments it is much more,” Reznikov said during the TV interview Wednesday night.
The minister said the Ukrainian military will work to prepare for a counter-offensive ahead of Russia’s push, adding that Ukraine “cannot lose the initiative” on the battlefield.
He stressed Kyiv’s urgent need to obtain new weapons from its Western allies without delay.
“We are telling our partners that we too need to be ready as fast as possible,” Reznikov said.
President Biden has ruled out providing F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, which the country has sought. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that the focus of American aid is to increase Ukraine’s military capabilities by sending artillery, armor and air defense, and training Ukrainian troops.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Putin marked the 80th anniversary of the World War II Soviet victory over Nazi German forces in the battle of Stalingrad and invoked the long and grueling fight — regarded as the bloodiest in history — as justification for the conflict in Ukraine. Putin laid a wreath at the eternal flame of the memorial complex to the fallen Red Army soldiers in Volgograd, the current name of the city, where some 2 million people lost their lives in the course of five months between August 1942 and February 1943.
Afterward, he said: “Now, regrettably, we see that the ideology of Nazism, in its modern guise, in its modern manifestation, once again poses direct threats to the security of our country. Again and again we are forced to repulse the aggression of the collective West.” Referring to Germany’s recent decision to supply advanced Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, Putin warned that “a modern war with Russia will be quite different for them.”
“It’s incredible, but it’s a fact: They are threatening us again with German Leopard tanks with crosses painted on their armor,” Putin said.
“And they are again going to fight Russia on the territory of Ukraine with the hands of Hitler’s followers, the Banderites,” he said, referring to WWII-era Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, who was widely considered to be a Nazi collaborator.