Russia increases attacks on anniversary of Ukraine uprising

Ukraine said on Feb 20 it was fighting off dozens of Russian attacks as Moscow claimed the recapture of a bridgehead, days after it seized a key town amid stalled Western aid deliveries to Kyiv.

Days before the two-year anniversary of the war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Moscow was exploiting delays in Western military aid, calling the situation "extremely difficult".

A heightened Russian offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine saw Moscow's forces capture the key eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka last week, after months of battle.

The surge comes as Ukraine marks the 10th anniversary of the shooting of dozens of protesters in Kyiv during a revolution that toppled the country's Moscow-backed leadership.

The uprising also led to Russia's annexation of Crimea in Ukraine's south and a pro-Russian separatist movement in the east.

"It has been 10 years since the attempts to destroy us and our independence," Mr Zelensky said on Facebook, on Feb 20.

"But we stood firm 10 years ago and continue to do so today," he said.

The head of Mr Zelensky's office, Mr Andriy Yermak, said Russia "sought to turn us into its colony but did not achieve its goal. We will win." Mr Sviataslav Yaremenko fought for several months in the industrial eastern Donetsk region in 2014, when Kremlin-backed separatists seized towns and cities there in the wake of the Maidan protests.