European leaders vow support for Ukraine as war grinds into fifth year

By Dan Peleschuk

KYIV, Feb 24 (Reuters) - European leaders vowed on Tuesday not to abandon Ukraine as Russia's invasion entered a fifth year, though divisions among Kyiv's partners overshadowed commemorations of the outbreak of the continent's largest war in decades.

Tuesday's anniversary of the start of the conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands and ravaged swathes of Ukraine, comes a day after Hungary vetoed new EU sanctions against Russia and a 90 billion euro ($105 billion) loan critical to Ukraine's survival.

Hungary, which maintains close ties with Moscow, and neighbouring Slovakia accuse Kyiv of deliberately blocking their supplies of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline, which Ukraine says it is trying to repair after a Russian strike last month.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, facing mounting U.S. pressure to secure a peace deal, has repeatedly urged Kyiv's allies to tighten sanctions on Moscow and send more weapons as Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no signs of ending his war.

UKRAINE'S ALLIES PLEDGE SUPPORT

Officials including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen travelled to Kyiv for the anniversary, but were not joined by heads of major Western governments.

Leaders present in Kyiv met as the "Coalition of the Willing". British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, taking part by video link, said Ukraine's allies would have to "do the hard yards" of helping Kyiv and pressuring Russia.

Britain on Tuesday sanctioned the oil pipeline giant Transneft among nearly 300 other Russian targets, in what it called its largest package of measures since the early months of the war.

"We know that when it comes to talks, there's one person standing in the way of progress in those talks, and that is Putin, and nobody but Putin," Starmer said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also joining remotely, said it was critical to "dry up Russia's war funding" by pushing through a 20th package of sanctions.

"We must be very clear. This war will only end when Putin realises that he cannot win," he said.

Brussels plans to submit a legal proposal to ban Russian oil imports permanently on April 15, three days after a parliamentary election seen as the main obstacle to Hungarian agreement, according to EU officials and a document seen by Reuters.

And in Kyiv, von der Leyen said the EU would deliver on its 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine, "one way or the other".

Russian forces are grinding forward with minor gains on the battlefield while attacking Ukrainian cities and towns with missiles and drones that have devastated the energy system.

In televised comments, Putin accused Ukraine of trying to torpedo the peace process, which is stalled over the issues of territory and control of Europe's largest nuclear plant.

RUSSIA ALLEGES UKRAINE NUCLEAR PLAN

Separately, top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying that Russia would brief the U.S. on what it says are attempts by Ukraine to obtain nuclear weapons. He provided no evidence, and Kyiv denied the claim.

Russia has insisted that Ukraine must cede the final 20% of the industrialised and heavily fortified eastern region of Donetsk - while Kyiv is adamant it will not relinquish land that thousands have died to defend.

Zelenskiy said in an morning address that it would not betray the sacrifices made by its people just to bring an end to the conflict. "We cannot, we must not, give it away, forget it, betray it."

The mood on the streets of Kyiv on Tuesday was subdued, with a few dozen people gathering at a ceremony in the central square with soldiers carrying flags to remember the fallen in silence. War-weariness is many Ukrainians' prevailing emotion.

"I don't think it will end quickly, because Russia hates us and will do everything possible to destroy us," said Svitlana Yur, a 48-year-old Kyiv resident.

Nearly 6 million people have left Ukraine and more than 3 million are displaced within its borders, accounting for over a fifth of the pre-war population.

In a televised address to the European Parliament, Zelenskiy urged members of the 27-nation EU to keep defending the European way of life, saying EU membership would be a guarantee of Ukraine's future security after a peace deal is signed.

The EU is considering ways to give Ukraine at least some benefits of membership before it has introduced all the many economic, democratic and judicial reforms required for full accession.

"Russians must learn that Europe is a union of independent nations and millions of people who do not tolerate humiliation and will not accept violence," Zelenskiy said.

He also invited U.S. President Donald Trump: "Only by visiting Ukraine and seeing our lives and struggles with your own eyes, by understanding our people and the enormity of their pain, can you see what this war is really about."

(Additional reporting by John Irish and Anna Pruchnicka; Writing by Daniel Flynn and Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Kevin Liffey)