Russian invasion hits 1,000-day milestone – DW – 11/19/2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved an updated nuclear doctrine, according to a document posted on the government’s website.

The new doctrine allows for a broader use of nuclear weapons, stating, for example, that any conventional attack on Russia backed by a nuclear power could be considered a joint attack on Russia.

The move comes after US President Joe Biden gave Ukraine permission to use ATACMS missiles against targets deep inside Russian territory. 

Putin ordered the changes to the nuclear doctrine in September, and the US, EU and Ukraine all condemned his “irresponsible” plans to change the doctrine. 

In a statement marking 1,000 days since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv has said it will continue to resist.

“Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers, and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Russian troops began their all-out unprovoked invasion on February 24, 2022.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, including many civilians, have lost their lives and millions have been displaced internally and externally amid the ensuing conflict.

Allies of US President-elect Donald Trump have criticized incumbent President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range missiles to attack targets within Russia, accusing him of escalating the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

“It’s another step up the escalation ladder and nobody knows where this is going,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice to be national security adviser, told Fox News.

Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives.”

The criticism by Trump’s allies echoes similar comments from the Kremlin, whose spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has also said Biden seemed to want to “provoke a further escalation of tensions” with his decision.  

Trump has repeatedly promised to swiftly end the war, but has not provided details of how he would do so, with critics fearing he might be ready to make concessions to Russia that are detrimental to Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Trump himself has not commented on Biden’s decision.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that new EU and British sanctions imposed on Tehran for its support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were unjustified.

“While the president of Ukraine has admitted that no Iranian ballistic missiles have been exported to Russia, the measures of the European Union and United Kingdom in applying sanctions against Iran cannot be justified,” ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement.

He added that European parties were violating international law, including the freedom of navigation and maritime trade, via sanctions.

On Monday, the EU and Britain expanded their sanctions against Iran, with new measures affecting the country’s shipping and airlines.

Iran has repeatedly rejected Western accusations that it has transferred missiles or drones to Moscow for use against Kyiv.

Leaders of the G20 meeting in Brazil have issued a final statement that calls for peace in Ukraine but does not mention Russia as the aggressor.

In it, the leaders said they wanted to “highlight the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war with regard to global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth.”

“We welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace, upholding all the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter for the promotion of peaceful, friendly, and good neighborly relations among nations,” the statement continued.

The statement reflects Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s intention to uphold Brazil’s decades-old principle of nonalignment.

Since taking office in January 2023, he has often made remarks suggesting that Russia, NATO and Ukraine share blame for the conflict. 

DW journalists Andreas Noll and Jan Walter have written a summary of events in Ukraine over the past years as it fights the Russian invasion for the 1,000th day.

They highlight the displacement and suffering caused in the Ukrainian population by Russia’s aggression, noting that the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine has worsened considerably as the war drags on.

You can read their account here.

Russia has said more than 900,000 members of Ukraine’s armed forces have been killed or injured since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in Ukraine 1,000 days ago.

The figure from the Ministry of Defense and state-run news agency TASS cannot be independently verified, and neither Moscow nor Kyiv has disclosed exact numbers for their own losses.

Western estimates of the death tolls on both sides generally suggest that Ukrainian casualties are much lower than Russian ones.

The New York Times recently reported that 57,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed so far, which is widely thought to be roughly half of the Russian casualties. 

NATO has estimated Russian losses at more than 600,000 dead and wounded, while the Ukrainian government says that more than 722,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of the war in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said a Russian drone attack in the northeastern region killed seven people, including a child.

“Every new Russian strike only confirms (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s true intentions. He wants the war to continue, he is not interested in talking about peace,” Zelenskyy said.

Regional officials previously said six people were killed in the attack

The attack, which hit a residential dormitory in the town of Hlukhiv, also injured 12, according to the military administration of the Sumy region.

The Sumy region borders Russia and is a supply route for Ukrainian forces that have seized territory during an incursion into the neigboring Russian region of Kursk.

Twelve people, including two children, were killed in Sumy over the weekend in a Russian missile attack.

tj/sms (AP, AFP, DPA, Reuters)