Ukraine survived the year of full-scale invasion.The “little victorious war” turned out to be a total hell for russia, and has already cost it almost 150,000 killed soldiers. Decisive events are yet to come, but the occupier gets beaten every day, and realizes that Ukraine cannot be conquered by force or blackmail.

We recall the events and statements of the war-affected year.

kremlin’s words are worthless: they have never planned to fulfil "Minsk" and said that they would not attack

putin's regime is the embodiment of total lies and permanent disinformation. russia’a main terrorist disguises his imperialist desires as protection of the russian-speaking population from genocide allegedly committed by the Ukrainian authorities.

Having treacherously annexed Crimea, the territory of a sovereign state, and deliberately inciting an armed conflict in the east of Ukraine in 2014, the kremlin decided to "settle the crisis." They wanted to become one of the "guarantors of peace," and sign the Minsk agreements.

The russian side kept accusing Ukraine of not fulfilling the peace agreements. In particular, this became one of the formal grounds for the russian invasion.

“The developments show that the Kyiv authorities are not going to fulfill the Minsk agreements,” putin said on February, 21, 2022, at the rf Security Council meeting.

However, all these statements simply diverted attention from the fact that russia de facto not only did not fulfill any of its obligations, but was not at all interested in observing the Minsk agreements. This was stated almost a year after the beginning of the war by a former assistant to the russian dictator, vladislav surkov, who had been a curator for Ukraine in the kremlin for several years.

At the same time, putin bullied Ukraine: " Well, whether you like it or not, bear with me, my beauty! It must be done! There’s no other way."

On February, 17, 2022, russian Deputy Foreign Minister, sergei vershinin, at a meeting of the UN Security Council, referring to the Minsk agreements, said that “there is no alternative to this flagship document for Ukraine.” Several days later, russia recognized the independence of the so-called "LDNR," and attacked Ukraine.

“russia has never attacked anyone throughout our history. And russia that has experienced so many wars, is the last country in Europe that wants to talk about it, not even to pronounce the word ‘war’," peskov said on the eve of the war.

russia's envoy to the United Nations has also consistently denied that russia was preparing for aggression. “If our American colleagues have gathered us today, let them present at least some evidence, except for the contrivance that russia is going to attack Ukraine,” he said.

Another example of russian lies was the statement of the head of the russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sergey lavrov, who persistently denied the criminal intentions of the russian federation. “If it depends on the russian federation, there will be no war. We do not want wars. But we shall not allow it when our interests are brutally stepped on, or ignored,” – said lavrov.

During the year of the full-scale war, russian propaganda has repeatedly transformed to justify the so-called "special operation". However, it is the manifest fact that the aggressor’s intentions are expansionist.

“Throughout the Minsk process, moscow was preparing for a full-scale war against Ukraine.

While the russian representatives continued to imitate diplomacy, the kremlin quietly built up its military forces and planned to destroy the democratic international order with one crushing blow,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said.

“Putin's decision to launch the full-scale invasion has become the wooden stake that this vampire has suicidally driven through himself,” expressed serhiy kyslytsia, Ukraine's permanent envoy to the UN.

russia lies about the goals of the “special operation” and keeps changing them

It took the russian military and political command less than a week to realize that a simple promenade through Ukraine would not work.

On February, 24, the kremlin spokesman, peskov, was unable to answer the question from russian journalists whether the aggressor planned to replace Ukraine’s authorities. However, the rapid attack on Kyiv testified to the intention to change power in Ukraine, quickly and without heavy losses.

The heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people disrupted all the plans of the rf. The russian side started justifying themselves. They claimed that everything was going according to plan, but no one has ever learned the details of the "plan" during the year of the war. Later, sergei shojgu shed some light on when he called the attack on Kyiv “the first stage of the special operation” to liberate the Donbas.

A week after the start of the offensive, the occupiers slightly quenched their criminal fervor and began to demand the Crimea and Donbas only. "Crimea is part of russia. Recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics within the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Demilitarization with established parameters,” lavrov described the objective of the special operation, in an interview with Al Jazeera TV channel.

Of course, Ukraine did not accept the terms of the occupiers. On the other hand, to justify the war, they launched the propaganda flywheel at full blast. During the year of the war, Ukrainians have heard about the Nazis, about Ukraine as the “anti-russia project”, the protection of the people of Donbass, biolaboratories and combat mosquitoes, a dirty bomb, a long-planned hybrid war against russia, a collective West and a multipolar world order, the preservation of Russia, a.o.

However, putin's accomplices have always been unanimous about the intentions of the occupation of Ukrainian territories. "The occupation of Ukraine is not part of our plans," vasiliy nebyenzya said on February, 28.

Subsequently, russia annexed four regions and tried as quickly as possible to enforce their presence through the integration of the occupied territories into the russian social, economic, and legal space.

The occupation of parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions once again testified to the fake intentions of the occupiers to protect the people of Donbas. If the occupier could keep more territories, they would also have imposed the "referendums" and annexation.

Ukraine has successfully liberated 40% of its territories occupied after February, 24, 2022. russia suffered devastating defeats in the Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv regions.

russians were pushed away from Donetsk and Luhansk regions. On November, 11, the heroic city of Kherson was liberated.

To stabilize the front and deter the Ukrainian counteroffensive, putin had to announce the mobilization.

“To protect russia, its sovereignty, and integrity, I consider it necessary to support the proposal to conduct a partial mobilization,” he said in his address to russian people. Although before that, the kremlin had several times emphasized that mobilization was not planned because everything was going according to plan.

At the same time, in order to force the Ukrainians to make at least some concessions, the russian terrorists conducted a complex policy of blackmail. Energy, food, nuclear, and missile strikes terror has accompanied Ukrainians throughout the war but have not yielded result the terrorists wanted so badly.

Instead, Ukraine was unanimous in its positions since day one of the full-scale war: sanctions against the aggressor, weapons, and the European future, responsibility for the act of aggression and war crimes, reclaiming Ukraine's internationally recognized borders.

“Ukraine will defend itself and win. The world can and must stop putin. Now is the time to act,” Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on February, 24, 2022.

The only thing that the Ukrainian rhetoric has changed about is the peace talks. After numerous war crimes committed by the occupier, such as in Bucha, Ukraine abandoned the negotiation track on russian terms. They implied the capitulation of Ukraine and giving away the russia-captured territories in exchange for an end to the war.

“We will not seek an understanding with terrorists. Although we understand the russian language, which you came to defend. And they killed thousands of people they came to liberate," said Volodymyr Zelensky on Independence Day of Ukraine.

As soon as in autumn, in his speech at the G20 summit, Volodymyr Zelensky presented the Ukrainian "peace formula." It includes 10 points which implementation will lead to the end of the war. In particular, it includes the restoration of territorial integrity and the withdrawal of russian troops from Ukraine.

On February, 3, 2023, the UN General Assembly approved a draft resolution that incorporates the key provisions of the “peace formula” proposed by Ukraine. 141 countries voted in favor. russia and 6 of their allies voted against. Among other things, the document demands that the russian federation "immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all their armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders."

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called this decision “a powerful signal of the unrelenting global support for Ukraine.”

In the Background of Failures, russia Keeps Resorting to Nuclear Blackmail

putin played the wrong card: “three days” of the war transformed into a year, the world applauds Ukraine for powerful resistance, sanctions are slowly strangling moscow. To justify a long war, the dictator boasts of seizing new territories and that the Sea of Azov, he believes, has become internal to russia.

At the same time, the kremlin's propaganda prepares citizens for great losses and protects the Homeland against an external enemy, such as the “collective West.” russia is isolated from the civilized world. They are looking for support from war-neutral countries, and prepare a new foreign policy concept.

“In our updated concept of foreign policy, we will talk about the need to stop the West's monopoly on building the framework of international life,” sergei lavrov said.

President of the United States, Joseph Biden, on February, 21, 2023, addressed the russians: " The USA does not want to destroy russia, they are not going to attack russia. Millions of russian citizens want to live in peace with their neighbors. They never wanted to be enemies. It is a tragedy. President putin chose war, and its duration depends on his choice.”

russian terrorists increasingly more often call the special operation a war, and spread a single narrative about the “victory”. leonid slutsky promotes the idea of uniting all parties into one – the Victory Party.

“If russia stops the SMO, without achieving victory, there will be no russia. It will be torn to pieces. If the United States stop supplying weapons to the Kyiv regime, the war will end,” dmitrii medvedev said.

How will the victory for russia be measured if they never capture Ukraine? In the coordinated annexation of Ukraine’s five regions? In a year or two, the aggressor will attempt to destroy Ukraine anew, because the end of the war will mean the collapse of the regime and responsibility for the crimes committed.

The occupier himself so firmly clung to his last hope, to the nuclear weapons. kremlin terrorists repeat the mantra “Nuclear powers do not lose wars."

A desperate outcome would provoke russia into further escalation, and encourage it to constantly raise the stakes. Despite this, the power of the spirit of Ukrainians is unshakable – 95% of them believe in victory over russia.

“No territorial compromises, no new 'lines of division', no 'new regions.' The war will be finalized correctly – only on the terms of Ukraine,” Mykhailo Podolyak is confident.