On January 11, the Russian invasion reached its 1,418th day
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine reached a new symbolic milestone by matching, and now surpassing in duration, the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, one of the longest and bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century.
On January 11, Russia's invasion reached its 1,418th day, the same period that the fighting between the Soviets and the Nazis lasted during World War II. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed this out during a recent speech.
In his message, the head of state drew a direct comparison between the Kremlin's current actions and the practices of the Nazi regime, arguing that Moscow is reproducing patterns typical of last century's fascism. "Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has lasted as long as Nazi Germany's war against the Soviet Union", Zelensky stated when referring to the length of the conflict.
Soldados rusos.
The president deepened that analogy by stating: "Today marks day 1418 of Russia's war against Ukraine. They wanted to repeat, and they repeated, the mockery of the people: they repeated fascism, they repeated almost everything that was worst about the 20th century". In that context, he argued that the tactics used by Russia on Ukrainian territory reflect continuity with the forms of total aggression that shaped European history during World War II.
Despite the prolongation of the conflict, Zelensky asserted that Russia has not managed to achieve its main military objectives. According to him, the advance of Russian forces remains limited and costly, even after almost four years of fighting. "But even so, the Russians are trying to capture the same Donbass that they were almost four years ago", the head of state indicated, in reference to the eastern region of Ukraine that continues to be one of the main focal points of confrontation.
In his speech, Zelensky also questioned what he described as a narrative repeated from Moscow about supposed military advances. "They want to lie again by saying that they've taken Kupiansk, that they are dying without cease in the fields of Zaporizhzhia, and that they are still fighting against a united Ukraine. This says a lot about the system that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has built", he stated.
Soldado ucraniano.
According to the latest official report from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia is reported to have lost 1,220,000 troops since the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. According to the same body, those figures are accompanied by more than 35,000 artillery systems, 11,500 tanks, 430 aircraft, and 28 ships destroyed or put out of action.
The historical comparison put forward by Zelensky refers to Operation Barbarossa, the invasion launched by Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. That offensive gave rise to a land war of massive dimensions, known as the Eastern Front or the Great Patriotic War, which lasted for approximately 1,418 days. The conflict ended with the German surrender on May 9, 1945.
