“Ukraine has defeated his winter terror. We survived the most difficult winter in our history. It was cold and dark, but we were unbreakable. Our partners stood by our side with their help. The EU has also won, and contrary to Moscow's laughter, it did not freeze without Russian gas. I have one piece of advice for Russia: choke on your gas and choke on your missiles.
This was the fifth defeat.
The first one was when we did not allow Putin to paralyze us with fear from the first minutes of the offensive.
The second was when we thwarted the Russian blitzkrieg plan. Ukraine did not fall in 3 days, 7 days, a month or a year. And it will never fall.
We have inflicted the third defeat on Russia on the diplomatic front: the global coalition for Ukraine, resolutions, isolation, flows of weapons, sanctions, energy, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The fourth defeat is Russia's loss of a large part of the occupied territories of Ukraine as a result of effective actions and counter offensives by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the rest of the Ukrainian Defense Forces,” Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
According to a poll by Tamedia and 20 Minuten published on Wednesday, every second Swiss is ready to allow third countries to send Swiss weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. While 50% of respondents agreed to the re-export of Swiss weapons by third countries, 46% oppose it, the poll said. 4% have not decided on their position.
The prominent Polish film director and screenwriter Jerzy Julian Hoffman, known for such films as "The Witch Doctor" (1982), "By Fire and Sword" (1999), "Ukraine – the Formation of a Nation" (2008), addressed the soldiers and officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a motivational speech. This was reported by ArmyInform.
“I am addressing you, heroic defenders of Ukraine. To you, soldiers and officers of the Ukrainian army. I would have done it earlier, but I knew that you need weapons, not words. What the President of the United States said in Kyiv and in Warsaw are not words. It was a declaration, a declaration by the leader of the most powerful country, the greatest force in the world. The free world will not allow Ukraine to lose. The weapons you are receiving and will continue to receive will allow you to defeat a brutal invader.
I am amazed by the people who created an army that has units like Azov, leaders like your iron general Zaluzhnyi, and finally soldiers like the actor and minister Nyshchuk. The list includes hundreds of famous and thousands of unknown heroes. You have people like Mr. Danilov among your leaders. And your President has become a symbol of the free world and has gone down in history forever. Morally, you have already won this war. You have won because you have earned the right to join the list of free European countries protected by NATO, the most powerful defense alliance in the world, with your own blood and many sacrifices.
Now you have to win this war without fail. No one will resurrect the fallen and killed, but this is the price of freedom. We, here in Poland, know this best. That is why we have opened our hearts and homes to you.”
Sweden has handed over 4 boats to the Agency for Infrastructure Reconstruction and Development that can be used as pontoon crossings. Also, 14 sections of pontoons that can be combined into crossings of different lengths were transferred.
In addition to Sweden, the Czech Republic, France and Norway have already transferred structures for the construction of temporary crossings to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Defense Forces eliminated at least 130 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers during the three-week-long enemy assault on Vuhledar in the Donetsk region, the largest tank battle between Ukraine and Russia. It is noted that the Russian Federation attacked in columns: the Ukrainian military studied the roads, then hid and waited for them from ambushes. This was Ukraine’s signature tactic at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, and the Russian army made the same mistake that cost Moscow hundreds of tanks at the beginning of the war.
Over the last day, the Defense Forces' aviation launched 16 strikes on the invading Russian troops' military positions. Our defenders also shot down an enemy Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicle. The Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff reported this.
During the day, missile and artillery units struck one enemy concentration area, 2 munitions depots and 2 enemy electronic warfare systems.