Wednesday marks the 31st anniversary of Ukraine's independence from the Russia-dominated Soviet Union, and is expected to be a day of resistance against the Kremlin's six-month-old campaign to conquer the country once more.
In an act of defiance, the administration displayed the monoliths of destroyed Russian tanks and armored vehicles in the heart of Kyiv.
The Ukrainian capital Kyiv prohibits public gatherings, and the eastern city of Kharkiv, which has endured months of shelling, is under curfew.
Ukraine's Independence Day comes six months after Russia's invasion on February 24 and will be commemorated with muted celebrations under the threat of land, air, and sea attack.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine warned of the prospect of "repugnant Russian provocations."
Russian invaders continue to launch air and missile assaults against Ukrainian civilian targets, according to a statement issued by the general staff on Wednesday.
"We are battling against the gravest threat to our statehood at a moment when our national unity is at its highest," Zelenskiy said in an address on Tuesday evening.
Tuesday, during a virtual conference on Crimea, Zelenskiy assured members of over 60 countries and international organizations that Ukraine will expel Russian military from the peninsula by any means necessary, without contacting other nations beforehand.
Thousands of civilians have been killed, almost a third of Ukraine's 41 million people have been displaced, towns are in ruins, and global markets have been rattled by the conflict. There are no imminent prospects for peace negotiations.
According to Ukraine's armed forces, about 9,000 military members have been killed in the conflict.
In contrast to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, Russian forces have expanded their authority to include the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coastlines, as well as portions of the eastern Donbas region, including the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
In what Moscow refers to as a "special military operation" to "denazify" Ukraine, U.S. intelligence agencies believe that 15,000 people have been killed. According to Kiev, the invasion is an act of unprovoked imperial aggression.
In August 1991, Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union following a failed coup in Moscow and an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians voted in favor of independence in a referendum.
Each side has accused the other of launching missiles and artillery dangerously close to Europe's largest nuclear power station, heightening concerns of a deadly disaster.
