Putin’s obliterated tanks line streets of Kyiv as Zelensky rallies the country on Independence Day

Ukraine is celebrating 31 years today since they broke free from Moscow’s shackles as the embattled country marks its Independence Day amid fears of a surge in attacks by Putin’s forces.

Independence Day, which commemorates Ukraine’s decision to leave the Soviet Union in 1991, falls exactly six months after Russia launched its brutal invasion that Volodymyr Zelensky said today has made his country feel ‘reborn’.

Celebrations will be muted, with public gatherings banned in Kyiv where a sea of destroyed Kremlin tanks have been displayed to the public, and a curfew is in force in the front-line eastern city of Kharkiv.

There are fears Russia will use the anniversary to increase their savage attacks, with Zelensky warning of the possibility of ‘repugnant Russian provocations’.

This morning, residents of Kyiv woke up to air raid sirens after the general staff had warned to take them seriously, saying: ‘Russian occupiers continue to carry out air and missile attacks on civilian objects on the territory of Ukraine. Do not ignore air raid signals.’

Zelensky told representatives of about 60 states and international organisations at a virtual summit on Crimea yesterday that Ukraine would drive Russian forces out of the peninsular by any means necessary, without consulting other countries beforehand.

Police president Andrzej Duda echoed his sentiments, saying the entire territory of Ukraine including Crimea needs to be liberated.

He said at the summit yesterday: ‘Crimea is Ukraine. Just as Gdansk or Lublin are part of Poland, Crimea is and will be part of Ukraine.’

In an emotional speech today, Zelensky said Ukrainians now believe the war will end when they secure victory rather than negotiate peace.

He said:  ‘A new nation appeared in the world on February 24 at 4 in the morning. It was not born, but reborn. A nation that did not cry, scream or take fright. One that did not flee. Did not give up. And did not forget,’ he said.

The 44-year-old wartime leader delivered the speech in his trademark combat fatigues in front of Kyiv’s central monument to independence from the Russia-controlled Soviet Union.

‘What for us is the end of the war? We used to say: peace. Now we say: victory,’ he said.

A small number of residents gathered in Kyiv’s central square, where destroyed Russian tanks and mobile artillery were put on display over the weekend, and the national anthem is played every day at 7am local time.

‘I can’t sleep at night because of what I see and hear about what is being done in Ukraine,’ a retiree who identified herself only by her first name, Tetyana, said, her voice shaking with emotion.

‘This is not a war. It is the destruction of the Ukrainian people.’

But back home, ordinary Russians are becoming more and more disillusioned with Putin’s constant barbarism and the unrelenting Kremlin war machine.

A survey by the Rosmir polling centre found only 65 per cent watch Kremlin-run stations, down from 86 per cent at the outbreak of the war, the Moscow Times reported.

Channel-1, Rossiya-1 and NT TV all tow the party line, issuing dire threats to the West and Ukraine as part of Putin’s propaganda to shore up support for his war. 

Opinion polls show only 55 per cent of Russians are in favour of the invasion, compared to 66 per cent a few months ago. 

Moscow restaurants numbers are at a five-month low and the cinema sector has warned it will collapse without government support as sanctions continue to bite. 

It is not only Russians who are tiring of the war, with EU support for Ukraine now waning because of the cost of living crisis.

UK diplomats have been pleading with European leaders to not cut aid to Kyiv, travelling across the continent to make their case for the besieged nation, The Telegraph reported. 

Governments are said to be wary of spending on arms and humanitarian supplies while energy bills surge at home, a source briefed on the talks said.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top foreign diplomat, said yesterday that Vladimir Putin sees ‘the weariness of the Europeans and the reluctance of their citizens to bear the consequences of support for Ukraine’, he told AFP, adding: ‘We will have to endure, and spread the costs within the EU.’

The war has killed thousands of civilians, forced over a third of Ukraine’s 41 million people from their homes, left cities in ruins, shaken global markets, and is largely at a standstill with no immediate prospect of peace talks.

In addition to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, Russian forces have expanded control to areas of the south including the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts, and chunks of the eastern Donbas region comprising the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Ukraine’s armed forces have said almost 9,000 military personnel have been killed in the war.

Ukraine broke free of the Soviet Union in August 1991 after a failed putsch in Moscow and an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians voted in a referendum to declare independence.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the U.N. nuclear watchdog hoped to gain access to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine within days.

Both sides have accused the other of firing missiles and artillery dangerously close to the plant, Europe’s biggest, raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

‘I’m continuing to consult very actively and intensively with all parties,’ Grossi said in a statement on Tuesday. ‘The mission is expected to take place within the next few days if ongoing negotiations succeed.’

Pro-Moscow forces took over the plant soon after the invasion began but it is still operated by Ukrainian technicians. The United Nations has called for the area to be demilitarised.

Russia on Tuesday accused Ukraine of attacking the plant with artillery, guided munitions and a drone, drawing a denial from Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya.

‘Nobody who is at least conscious can imagine that Ukraine would target a nuclear power plant at tremendous risk of nuclear catastrophe and on its own territory,’ Kyslytsya said at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting in New York called by Russia.

The United States, which has sent $10.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, will announce a new package of about $3 billion as early as Wednesday, a U.S. official said.

Advanced U.S. missile systems appear to have helped Ukraine strike deep behind the front lines in recent months, taking out ammunition dumps and command posts.

In the latest mysterious fire at a Russian military facility, Russian officials said ammunition stored in southern Russia near the border with Ukraine spontaneously combusted on Tuesday.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod region, blamed hot weather for the fire, drawing ridicule from Ukraine.

‘In a few months we will find out whether Russian ammunition can explode because of the cold,’ Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Twitter.

‘The five main causes of sudden explosions in Russia are: winter, spring, summer, autumn and smoking.’

A car bombing outside Moscow on Saturday that killed the 29-year-old daughter of right-wing Russian political theorist Alexander Dugin heightened fears that Russia might intensify attacks on Ukraine this week.

Russian officials have blamed Ukraine for the death of Darya Dugina, a nationalist Russian TV commentator. The car bomb exploded after she had attended a patriotic festival with her father, who was widely believed to have been the intended target.

The Ukrainian government has denied any involvement.