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Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine marked its 100th day on Friday, with Moscow’s forces now controlling 20% of Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the eve of the anniversary that up to 100 of his soldiers were dying each day as they resisted Russia’s push to control the country’s eastern region, according to the BBC.
He also claimed that Russia now controls one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
Prior to the war, which began on February 24, Russia and Moscow-backed separatists made up less than 10% of Ukraine’s population.
Following the end of the battle in Mariupol last month, when Russia took control of the Azovstal steel plant and the city, both sides have shifted their military focus to the Donbass region -the northeastern part of the Donetsk region, and the western part of the Luhansk region.
According to Xinhua, the current military action is centered on two strategically important cities in the Luhansk region, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.
Heavy fighting has continued in Severodonetsk, according to the Ukrainian side. Sergei Haidai, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, recently stated that Russia was gaining control of the majority of the city while Ukrainian forces resisted.
President Zelensky said during a visit to the frontline in Kharkiv region on Sunday that his country’s troops were facing an extremely difficult situation.
In a Telegram post following the visit, the leader said his country would “defend its land till the very end” and “would fight and definitely win”.
Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed that Moscow’s “special military operation”, a term Moscow uses for the war, would continue despite Western pressure and increased Western assistance to Kiev.
While there have been notable developments on the battlefield, the same cannot be said for the current state of Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
The prospect of peace remains bleak, as negotiations were halted in April.
Despite Ukraine’s constant desire to deviate from previous agreements, Russian officials stated that Moscow was willing to continue diplomatic talks. Russia declared in April that the “ball was now in Ukraine’s court” after sending draft proposals to Kiev.
Zelensky stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos that for diplomatic talks to continue, Russian forces must return to positions held prior to the start of the conflict. Such conditions, according to Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, are “impossible in principle.”
Despite this, world leaders have continued to pursue mediation efforts. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have all spoken with Putin on the phone about the Ukrainian crisis and the peace talks.
Turkey, which has expressed a desire to mediate the conflict and has already hosted a round of Russia-Ukraine talks, recently expressed willingness to host a new round of talks.
Despite this, none of the current efforts have resulted in a successful revival of the talks due to significant differences in the negotiation positions of both parties.
Russia has already begun to strengthen its presence in southern and eastern Ukraine, including by making it easier for residents of the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson to apply for Russian citizenship.
Meanwhile, the US and its Western allies have maintained pressure on Russia, increased sanctions, and provided military assistance to Ukraine in an effort to end the conflict.
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden announced that his administration would provide Ukraine with advanced rocket systems that Kiev had requested.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also recently announced that the country would receive Harpoon anti-ship missile systems from Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands to defend itself in the Black Sea, with other countries supplying defense equipment in the near future.
In an effort to further isolate Russia, European Union leaders recently agreed to prohibit “more than two-thirds” of Russian oil imports into the bloc, as they adopted their sixth package of sanctions against Russia.
In recent phone conversations with European leaders, Putin stated that the supply of weapons would further destabilize the situation and exacerbate Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that the West is fighting a proxy war against Russia, with Ukraine serving as the front line.
According to the UN, 4,149 people have been killed and 4,945 have been injured in Ukraine since the war began.
According to Zelensky, 243 Ukrainian children have died, while 200,000 have been forcibly deported to Russia.
According to the UN, the majority of civilian casualties were caused by explosive weapons, heavy artillery shelling, multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes.
Meanwhile, the Russian government claims that 1,351 troops were killed and 3,825 were injured.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 14 million people have fled Ukraine.
Poland has taken in the most Ukrainian refugees, 3,544,995.
While 2.1 million Ukrainians have returned, more than 8 million people are still internally displaced.
