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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reached Kyiv on Saturday to stand in solidarity with Ukraine as 2022 the Russo-Ukrainian war entered its second year. EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also reached Kyiv.

Ukraine’s state railway service posted a photograph showing Trudeau at Kyiv train station. The photo was posted on social media by a spokesman of Ukraine’s Ukrzaliznytsia railway.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will preside over a G7 virtual meeting on Ukraine on the second anniversary of the war, the Italian government said in a statement.

Italy holds the rotating presidency of the G7. The meeting, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend, will discuss new sanctions against Russia, news agency AFP said.

Ukraine on Saturday marked two years since Russia’s invasion, entering a new year of war weakened by a lack of western aid while Russia is emboldened by the recent gains it made. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky’s much-touted counteroffensive failed and future plans to continue opposing Russia’s military might has also taken a hit due to lack of military aid from the US.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” at dawn on February 24, 2022, many expected Moscow’s victory within days, but Ukraine fought back, forcing Russian troops to retreat from many areas in central and western Ukraine. Russia, however, has control of several key areas in southern, southeastern and eastern Ukraine.

“Light” will triumph over “darkness”, Kyiv’s army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“I am convinced that unity is our victory. And it will definitely happen. Because light always conquers darkness!” Syrksy said on social media.

But Ukraine’s troops are short of manpower and running low on Western-supplied ammunition for artillery and air defences.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that decisions on arms supplies must be “the priority”.

Neither side has given numbers for military deaths and injured, while both claim to have inflicted huge losses.

In August 2023, The New York Times quoted US officials as putting Ukraine’s military losses at 70,000 dead and 100,000 to 120,000 injured.

Leaked US intelligence in December indicated that 315,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Moscow’s forces in occupied Ukraine, the army said on Saturday, telling them “in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side”.

He was also briefed on Russian troops “continuing their advance” after taking Avdiivka.

(with inputs from AFP)