Russia warns it will recapture lost land in Ukraine

By Stefan J. Bos

With Ukraine's motivated army recapturing thousands of square kilometers or miles, Russia is rushing to mobilize men to halt the counter-offensive.

The Kremlin warned Wednesday that the annexed territories from Ukraine will be with Russia forever and that they will be returned!"

To underscore its pledge, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws formalizing the annexation, a move the West says is in defiance of international law.

Ukraine says its forces have advanced in all four annexed regions: Kherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that his troops were progressing rapidly, especially in the southern Kherson area.

Kyiv's reported battlefield successes were also noted by Britain's recently elected Prime Minister Liz Truss.

British PM

Speaking Wednesday at her Conservative Party's annual conference in Birmingham, she said Ukraine "will win" the war. And Truss stressed that, in her view, no peace deal should give away Ukrainian territory to President Putin's Russia. "Putin's illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory is just the latest act in his campaign to subvert democracy and violate international law," she said.

"We should not give in to those who want a deal which trades away Ukrainian land. They are proposing in Ukrainian lives for the illusion of peace," Truss stressed.

"'We will stand with our Ukrainian friends for however long it takes. Ukraine can win, Ukraine must win, and Ukraine will win," she added, prompting a standing ovation.    

Across the sea, the European Union was to sign a fresh round of sanctions against Russia, its eighth package, despite some opposition from EU countries such as Hungary.

Yet there is mounting concern within EU member states about the impact of the war on their economies with skyrocketing prices for food and energy.