Ukraine vows no surrender, Kremlin issues nuke threat on 1,000th day of war

Ukraine says its forces will never surrender to Russia, 1,000 days after Moscow launched its brutal invasion, while the Kremlin also pledges victory and escalates its nuclear saber-rattling.

The grim anniversary opened with an overnight Russian strike in the eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy that gutted a Soviet-era resident building and killed at least nine people, including a child. President Volodymyr Zelensky published images of rescue workers hauling bodies from the debris and called on Kyiv’s allies to “force” the Kremlin into peace.

The foreign ministry echoes Zelensky’s comments in a statement marking the anniversary by calling on allies to ramp up their military support to bring about a “sustainable” end to the war.

“Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers, and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law,” the ministry says. “We need peace through strength, not appeasement.”

The Kremlin also vows to defeat Ukraine.

“The military operation against Kyiv continues… and will be completed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters, using Russia’s preferred language for its invasion. The comments come as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree broadening the scope for when Moscow will consider using nuclear weapons in a clear warning to the West and Ukraine.

The Kremlin says the move, which enables Russia to use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state if they are supported by nuclear powers, is “necessary to bring our principles in line with the current situation.”