It has been exactlyfour years since Russia launched its large-scale invasionof Ukraine, attacking the country from multiple directions. On Feb. 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special operation," a campaign that many expected to be brief and to end with Kyiv's capitulation.
South Korea Russia Ukraine War
Instead, European officials are traveling to the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday to show their support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people, who are fighting on.
While Putin did not get the quick and overwhelming victory he had hoped for,the cost has been high on both sides. And as Europe's biggest conflict enters its fifth year, there is no sign of any peace deal despite U.S. diplomatic efforts over the past year.
Here's the latest:
European officials visit Kyiv in a show of solidarity
More than a dozen senior European officials arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday in a show of support. But they also comewithout two new dealsthey had hoped to present to Kyiv — a new package of sanctions on Russia and a 90 billion euro loan to fund Ukraine's defense for the next two years.
Hungary, seen as most pro-Russian country in the European Union, blocked them both. It's a sign of how difficult it has been sometimes to maintain solidarity as the war drags on.
'We have defended out independence'
Zelenskyy said his country has withstood the onslaught by Russia's bigger and better equipped army, which over the past year of fightingcaptured just 0.79% of Ukraine's territory, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.
"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; (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has not achieved his goals," Zelenskyy said on social media.
"He has not broken Ukrainians; he has not won this war," Zelenskyy also said.
Advertisement
France's Macron says the war exposes 'the fragility' of imperialism
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on the social platform X that "this war is a triple failure for Russia: military, economic, and strategic."
"It has strengthened NATO — the very expansion Russia sought to prevent — galvanized Europeans it hoped to weaken, and laid bare the fragility of an imperialism from another age," Macron said.
Macron also urged the EU to issue the 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine, a plan that requires the unanimity of the 27 member states.
"There is no justification for calling this into question. We must now deliver on it," he wrote.
Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were to join a meeting of Western leaders supporting Ukraine, the so-called Coalition of the Willing, via videoconference on Tuesday.
A 'revolution' in warfare
Britain's Armed Forces Minister Al Carns says the war has been "the most defining conflict" in decades due to the way it has revolutionized warfare and upended Europe's security.
"I would never have guessed in my lifetime I would see North Korean troops fighting on the border of Europe," Carns told reporters on Monday. "Which I think is a significant warning signal to all of us."
Carns said the conflict had brought a "revolution in military affairs," especially through the rapid development of drone technology. Drones now account for the vast majority of battlefield casualties in the war.
Western officials say that in the last three months, Russia has lost more casualties than the number of troops it recruits, a potential tipping point.
"The cost on Russia has been almost unimaginable," Carns said, calling a Western estimate of 1.25 million Russian personnel killed and wounded since 2022 likely an underestimate.
