Ukraine . — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared on Tuesday that Russia has not “destroyed Ukrainians” nor triumphed in its war, four years after an invasion that has severely tested the determination of Kyiv and its allies and fueled European fears about the scale of Moscow’s ambitions.
In a show of support, more than a dozen senior European officials headed to the Ukrainian capital to commemorate the somber anniversary of the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people, disrupted the lives of millions of Ukrainians, and created instability far beyond its borders.
Zelensky stated that his country has resisted the onslaught of the larger and better-equipped Russian army, which, during the last year of fighting, captured only 0.79% of Ukrainian territory, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. Russia now controls almost 20% of Ukraine.
“Looking back at the beginning of the invasion and reflecting on today, we have every right to say: we have defended our independence, we have not lost our statehood,” Zelenskyy said on social media, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has not achieved his goals.” Related stories
“He hasn’t destroyed the Ukrainians; he hasn’t won this war,” Zelenskyy stated
Despite the demonstration of defiance, Ukraine has struggled to contain the Russian onslaught, and the war has caused severe hardship to the Ukrainian civilian population. Russian air strikes have devastated families and deprived the civilian population of electricity and drinking water.
Putin did not mention the anniversary nor did he say how the war was going when he spoke at a meeting of senior officials of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Moscow on Tuesday.
However, he informed them that the threat of Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil has increased. Ukraine has deployed more and more long-range drones that it has developed to attack oil refineries, fuel depots, and military logistics centers more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) inside Russia.
As the war of attrition enters its fifth year, the diplomatic effort led by the United States to end the largest conflict on the continent since World War II does not seem any closer to a peace agreement.
Negotiations are stalled on what will happen with the Donbas, the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine that Russian forces occupy for the most part but have failed to fully seize, and on the terms of a post-war security agreement that Kyiv demands to deter any future Russian invasion.
The UN General Assembly on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire and comprehensive peace in Ukraine, rejecting a US attempt to remove language underlining the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Washington supports an immediate ceasefire, said U.S. Deputy Ambassador Tammy Bruce before the vote, but opposed the language that emphasized Ukraine’s territorial unity because it would “distract” from peace talks.
The General Assembly, composed of 193 members, approved the original text by 107 votes in favor and 12 against, and among the 51 countries that abstained were the United States.
Zelenskyy urges Trump to visit
In an improvised monument in the central square of Kyiv, where thousands of small flags and portraits display photos of fallen soldiers, Zelenskyy said he would like US President Donald Trump to visit and witness the suffering of Ukraine.
“Only then can one truly understand what this war is about,” Zelenskyy said. When asked later how four years of war had changed him, Zelenskyy replied: “I have no time for friends or friendships.”
Trump, who once promised to end the war in a day, has repeatedly changed his tone towards Putin and Zelenskyy over the past year: sometimes criticizing the negotiating position of the Ukrainian leader while approaching the Russian leader and other times lashing out at Putin for his strong attacks and seeming more understanding of the Ukrainian situation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said the invasion would continue to achieve Moscow’s goals. These include the demand that Ukraine renounce its candidacy for NATO, drastically reduce its army, and cede vast tracts of territory.
Zelenskyy said he expected a new round of conversations with Russia mediated by the United States within the next 10 days.
A Nightmare for Ukrainians
The number of soldiers killed, wounded, or missing on both sides could reach 2 million by spring, and Russia would suffer the largest number of troop deaths of any major power in any conflict since World War II, according to a report last month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
European leaders see the security of their countries at stake in Ukraine, amid concerns that Putin may attack them soon.
The German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, wrote on X: “For four years, every day and every night has been a nightmare for Ukrainians, and not only for them, but for all of us. Because war has returned to Europe.”
“We will only be able to end this by being strong together, because the fate of Ukraine is our fate,” he added.
Putin’s Dangerous Bet
Putin believes that time is on the side of his army, which is larger, according to Western officials and analysts, and that Western support will wane and that Ukraine’s military resistance will eventually crumble. Trump has already canceled military aid to Ukraine, although other NATO countries are now buying American weapons and delivering them to Kyiv.
But French President Emmanuel Macron described the war as “a triple failure for Russia: military, economic and strategic.” The war “has strengthened NATO — the very expansion that Russia sought to avoid —, has galvanized the Europeans it hoped to weaken and has exposed the fragility of an imperialism of another era,” Macron declared on X.
The European Union has also sent financial aid, but on occasion it has encountered reluctance from its members Hungary and Slovakia.
While NATO countries have come to the aid of Ukraine, Russia has received aid from North Korea, which has sent thousands of troops and artillery shells; Iran, which has provided drone technology; and China, which according to the United States and analysts has provided machine tools and chips.
A Defining Conflict
Among the European officials who visited Kyiv on Tuesday were European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, as well as seven prime ministers and four foreign ministers.
Zelenskyy later said that von der Leyen assured him that Ukraine would receive the first tranche of a 90 billion euro loan in the spring, despite Hungary’s attempts to block it.
The only American listed among the official guests at the Kyiv ceremonies was Lieutenant General Curtis Buzzard, a U.S. officer representing NATO in Ukraine.
The British Armed Forces Minister, Al Carns, stated that Russia’s war against Ukraine was “the most decisive conflict” in decades, and that it represented a “revolution in military affairs”, especially thanks to the rapid development of drone technology. He added that drones currently cause the vast majority of casualties on the battlefield.
Both sides face challenges in finding enough troops and are increasingly turning to unmanned aircraft that can strike far from the front lines, said the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies in its annual report on the global military situation.
“Given both sides’ dependence on external support for material, decisions made in foreign capitals will play an important role in shaping the trajectory of the war,” added the think tank.
The United Kingdom announced on Tuesday a new package of military and humanitarian support for Ukraine, including the dispatch of British military medical teams to instruct their Ukrainian counterparts.
The cost of rebuilding war-torn Ukraine would amount to almost $588 billion over the next decade, according to the World Bank, the European Commission, the United Nations, and the Ukrainian government. This is equivalent to almost triple Ukraine’s estimated nominal GDP for last year, according to a report released on Monday.
