Kiev: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday expressed confidence in his country's victory over invading Russian forces, despite growing concerns about the attacks on the first anniversary of the war.

Western leaders have ramped up their support for Kiev in nearly a year of conflict, and on Thursday G7 ministers discussed new sanctions against Russia as the UN General Assembly prepares to vote on a resolution calling for a "permanent" peace. 

"We have not given up; we have won despite great adversity." Zelensky announced on social media that "we will hold accountable all those who brought this evil, this war, to our land."

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In Ukraine's capital, Kiev, where Russian troops were stationed at the city's gates when the invasion began in February and where energy infrastructure has been repeatedly attacked,

Diana Shestakova, 23, who works for a publishing house and whose boyfriend spent the last year in the army, said, "This has been the most difficult year of my life and of all Ukrainians."

"I am confident that we will win, but we do not know how long we will have to wait or how many victims are yet to come."

On Wednesday night, a Swiss artist decorated public structures in the western city of Lviv with blue and yellow peace doves and Ukrainian tridents as a tribute to Ukraine. Ukraine's military intelligence chief claimed Russia was preparing a missile strike for February 24, the first anniversary of the war.

In an interview with the newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda, Kirylo Budanov said that "February 23–24, they have two dates," adding, "Believe me, we have already survived more than 20 times."

Large parts of Ukraine have been devastated by the year-long conflict, which has made Russia a pariah in the West and claimed 150,000 casualties on each side, according to sources in the West.

A Group of Seven finance ministers gathered in Bengaluru, India, to talk about additional sanctions and financial aid for Ukraine. On Thursday, he urged the International Monetary Fund to deliver a new aid package to Ukraine by the end of March.

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The country and its G7 allies intend to announce "a major new package of sanctions" around the anniversary, according to a senior US official, including steps to make it harder to circumvent current sanctions.

According to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow over the past 12 months "have had a far more significant negative impact on Russia."

After arriving in Kiev by train and before meeting with President Zelensky, the most recent Western leader to visit the Ukrainian capital, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, tweeted that Madrid would "stand by Ukraine and its people until that peace never returns to Europe."

On Thursday, the UN General Assembly in New York was due to vote on a resolution endorsing a "just and lasting peace" backed by Kiev and its allies.

The distinction between good and evil has never been more clear in recent memory. A nation only desires to exist. The other wants to kill and destroy," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the international organization on Wednesday.

To defeat Russia, the West, according to the UN ambassador to the Kremlin, is ready to "plunge the whole world into the abyss of war."

Russian President Vladimir Putin also pledged to improve his country's defense capabilities as he paid respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, before speaking with soldiers in a chilly but sunny Red Square there.

He praised Russian troops fighting "heroically" in Ukraine and defending "our historic land", adding that Russia would provide the troops with "new strike systems, reconnaissance and communications equipment, drones and artillery systems".

He declared that "unbreakable unity" within Russia was essential to our success.
While US Vice President Joe Biden made a highly symbolic visit to Kiev this week to show his support, improved ties between Russia and China were on display in Moscow when Putin met with Wang Yi, Beijing's top diplomat.

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Beijing's views on a "political solution" in Ukraine were discussed at their meeting, which was called after Washington and NATO expressed concern that China was preparing to arm Russia.