Ukrainian President Zelensky called on Europe to "push Russia harder" during a speech marking the 1,000th day since Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"The more time he [Putin] has, the worse the situation becomes," Zelensky told a special session of the European Parliament on Tuesday.
His comments came amid reports suggesting that Ukraine may have used the U.S.-supplied ATACMS long-range missile system for the first time, striking a target deep inside Russian territory. The attack reportedly hit an ammunition depot in Bryansk, a region approximately 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, according to an unconfirmed report by RBC Ukraine. This came a day after Washington gave its approval for Ukraine to use the missiles.
Kyiv frequently uses domestically produced drones to strike targets inside Russia, and there was no immediate confirmation that U.S. missiles had been deployed in the recent attack.
On Monday, U.S. officials announced that President Biden had lifted sanctions restricting the use of the ATACMS missile system beyond Ukraine's borders. It is believed that Ukraine was given the green light to use the missiles exclusively to defend its forces in Russia's Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a surprise incursion in August and where a potential assault by Russian and North Korean troops was anticipated in the coming days.
**Putin Approves Changes to Russia's Nuclear Doctrine**
During his speech to the European Parliament on the 1,000th day since Russia's invasion on February 24, 2022, Zelensky warned that Putin "will not stop on his own" and urged the international community to push Russia towards a "just peace." He also highlighted the recent deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, signaling Moscow’s intent to escalate the conflict further.
"While some European leaders focus on elections or other concerns at Ukraine's expense, Putin is solely focused on winning this war," Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s top military commander marked the milestone of 1,000 days of war in a message on Telegram, describing the ongoing battle as an "extremely complex, fierce fight for our existence" and the "destruction of the enemy." He spoke of the hardships faced by Ukrainian soldiers in the freezing trenches of Donetsk and the scorched fields of Kherson under constant bombardment, emphasizing that "every dark night, even if there are a thousand of them, always ends with dawn."
These comments came after a drone attack in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region overnight, which killed eight people, including a child, and followed a separate strike on Sunday that left 89 dead.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin approved an updated nuclear doctrine that expands the conditions under which Russia could consider using nuclear weapons. The new policy states that any aggression from a non-nuclear state, if backed by a nuclear power, would be treated as a joint attack on Russia. It also asserts that large-scale attacks on Russia using conventional missiles, drones, or aircraft, as well as threats to Belarus or Russia’s sovereignty, could trigger a nuclear response.