After his participation in the virtual World Summit for Democracy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj stressed that democracy absolutely needs a victory as soon as possible. Russia, meanwhile, is preparing for a long war against Ukraine and the West.

"All of us together – Ukrainians, all Europeans, our American allies, our friends on all continents – in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australia – will do everything to bring this victory closer," Zelenskyi said in his evening video address on Wednesday. "The victory of Ukraine, the victory of freedom, the victory for the rules-based international order."

The US co-hosted the virtual summit with Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia. US President Joe Biden had already invited to a virtual meeting of this kind in December 2021. Zelenskyi underlined Biden's leading role in consolidating the democratic world. "And this unity, as we see, is enough to fight for freedom," he said. "But to win the battle against tyranny, we need more unity."

Kremlin expects long conflict with the West over Ukraine

According to the Kremlin, Russia is preparing for a long war with the West over Ukraine. "This is a confrontation with hostile states, with unfriendly countries, this is a hybrid war unleashed by them against our country. This is for a long time," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. "Here we need toughness, self-conviction, determination and unity around the president."

Ukraine's air force, according to its spokesman Yuri Ihnat, "urgently" needs modern fighter jets. "Neither the Polish nor Czech Migs help us, nor Mirages or Tornadoes," Ihnat said on Ukrainian television on Wednesday. While the Migs received from neighbors are a welcome and necessary reinforcement, Ukraine needs fourth-generation multirole fighter jets, such as the American F-16. Since the training of pilots and ground staff on these machines is "not an easy process", a decision would be necessary "if possible yesterday".

Spain wants to supply Ukraine with ten Leopard tanks of the older type 2A4, but excludes the dispatch of fighter jets. The delivery of the first six tanks will take place in two weeks, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Wednesday.

Kiev announces Russian military "drone swarm Mathias Rust"

After the repeated Russian attacks with so-called kamikaze drones on Ukrainian cities, the Ukrainian military wants to pay back with the same coin. The secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, announced counterstrikes with his own drones, which, in his words, were combined in a "Ukrainian swarm Mathias Rust" – in memory of the German Kremlin plane. There are already "several thousand drones with a range of up to 3000,<> kilometers," Danilov claimed on Twitter.

The German private pilot Mathias Rust had landed on 28 May 1987 with a single-engine Cessna on the Moskva Bridge in front of the Kremlin. Previously, he had taken off from Finland and had flown under the entire Soviet air defense. Rust wanted to demonstrate with his action for world peace. His flight was followed by a wave of purges in the leadership of the Soviet military.

The Ukrainian military leadership admitted on Wednesday a partial Russian success in the fighting for the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country. "In the Bakhmut sector, the enemy continued its attacks on the city, partly with success," the General Staff in Kiev said in its daily situation report. However, details of Russia's territorial gains were not given.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar gave more concrete insights into the losses of the armed forces for the first time. Accordingly, the numbers of dead on the Russian side are significantly higher than on the Ukrainian side. "There are days in the East when the ratio of casualties (fatalities) is 1 to 10," she said on Telegram on Wednesday. "Of course, that's not the case every day, and the average ratio is lower, but still."

The Ukrainian military has so far provided no information on its own losses since the beginning of the war over a year ago. On the other hand, daily statistics are published with the alleged losses of the Russian military. According to the report, the Russian armed forces have so far suffered over 172,000 deaths. The Russian military, for its part, does not provide any information on its own losses. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace estimated Russian losses of dead and wounded on Wednesday at around 220,000, Sky News reported.

This will be important on Thursday

New fighting is expected around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Zelenskyj speaks on Thursday via video link in front of the Austrian Parliament.