'Frozen trenches, burning steppes' — Ukraine marks 1,000 days of war

Ukraine marked 1,000 days on Tuesday since Russia's full-scale invasion, with weary troops battling on numerous fronts, Kyiv besieged by drone and missile strikes, and officials preparing for Donald Trump to reclaim the White House in January.

In a boost for the beleaguered country, US President Joe Biden gave the green light for US missiles to be used against targets deeper inside Russia, potentially limiting its options to launch attacks and supply the front. But military experts say the shift would not be enough on its own to change the course of the 33-month-old war. And potentially more consequential changes in the US posture are expected when Trump returns to power, having pledged to end the war quickly without saying how.

Ukrainian President Zelensky posted a video of clip of dramatic moments in the war, including his speech announcing the start of the invasion in which he said: "Don't panic, we're strong, we're ready for everything, we'll defeat (them) all."

Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died, over 6 million live as refugees abroad and the population has fallen by a quarter since Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion by land, sea and air that began Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two. Military losses have been catastrophic, although casualty figures remain closely guarded secrets. Public Western estimates based on intelligence reports say hundreds of thousands have been wounded or killed on each side.

Tragedy has touched families in every corner of Ukraine, where military funerals are commonplace in major cities and far-flung villages, and people are exhausted by sleepless nights of air raid sirens and anguish. In the first year after the invasion, Ukrainian troops pushed Russian forces back from the outskirts of Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory with surprise military successes against a larger and better-armed foe.

But since then, the enemies have settled into relentless trench warfare that has ground eastern Ukrainian cities into dust. Russian forces still occupy a fifth of Ukraine and for the past year they have slowly but steadily gained ground.

"In the frozen trenches of the Donetsk region and in the burning steppes of the Kherson region, under shells, hail, and anti-aircraft guns, we are fighting for the right to live," Ukraine's top commander Oleksandr Syrkyi wrote on Telegram. The return of Trump, who has criticised the scale of US aid, calls into question the united Western front against Putin, but also raises the prospect of talks to end the fighting. No such negotiations are known to have been held since the war's first months.

PROSPECT OF TALKS PROMPTS ESCALATION

A sense of escalation has been palpable as Moscow and Kyiv push to improve their battlefield positions ahead of any talks. Already boosted by Iranian attack drones and North Korean artillery shells and ballistic missiles, Russia has now deployed 11,000 North Korean troops, some of whom Kyiv says have clashed with Ukrainian forces who have seized a part of Russia's Kursk region. One senior Kyiv official said Pyongyang had the capacity to send 100,000 soldiers.

Ukraine meanwhile has some of its best troops trying to hold that small piece of Russian territory, captured in August as a bargaining chip. Kyiv says Russia has massed 50,000 troops there, while the Kremlin's forces have also been making their quickest gains since 2022 in the east of Ukraine, and stepping up pressure in the northeast and southeast too. With winter setting in, Moscow on Sunday renewed its aerial assault on Ukraine's struggling power system, firing 120 missiles and 90 drones in the biggest barrage since August.

TALKS, BUT ON WHAT TERMS?

President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Ukraine must do its best to end the war next year through diplomatic means. But publicly there has been no narrowing of the gulf in the enemies' negotiating positions. Kyiv has long demanded full Russian withdrawal from all occupied territory, and security guarantees from the West comparable to membership in NATO's mutual defence treaty, to prevent future Russian attacks.

The Kremlin says Ukraine must drop all ambitions to join NATO and withdraw its troops entirely from the provinces Russia claims to have annexed since its invasion. There are signs beyond just the return of Trump that the West is preparing for talks. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Putin on Friday for the first time in nearly two years. Zelenskiy said that move reduced the Russian leader's isolation. There must be no repeat of the negotiation process that brought a ceasefire to an earlier conflict a decade ago, he said. Those talks left Ukraine without guarantees to prevent an all-out attack. "What we need is real peace."

Reuters