Four years ago, on this day, February 24^th, in 2022, Russia began its bloody invasion of Ukraine. But it wasn’t the start of the illegal attempt to conquer Ukraine. That was 12 years ago, when their green men occupied Crimea from February to March 2014.

Yet Putin’s so-called ‘special military operation’ failed in its three-day plan to seize Kyiv and impose a puppet government in Ukraine.  Even after four years of a costly and genocidal war, especially in terms of lives, Russia occupies at most 20% of Ukraine. Despite Trump saying he would resolve the war in 24 hours, a year of peace negotiations has achieved almost nothing, except the release of prisoners on both sides.

Putin’s maximalist demands for peace, which basically mean the subjugation of Ukraine,  have never changed over the years of the bloodiest European war since the Second World War. On January 11^th, 2026, the Russians had been fighting the Ukrainians for longer than the Soviet Union’s Red Army fought against Nazi Germany.

Territory is the stumbling block in the negotiations, specifically, the 30% of the Donbas which Ukraine controls. They’re reluctant to give up this area because some of their most hardened defences, their fortress cities, are in that territory. Even acceptable security guarantees, which Russia is unlikely to accept, might not be enough. Past treaties have not saved Ukraine, since Russia has repeatedly broken its word and the West has done nothing. Until 2022, stunning Putin.

Furthermore, millions of Ukrainians live in this territory. Unable to defend themselves, their freedom, their property, their lives, their children, and their belongings. Russian occupation has already proved unspeakable.  From loss of identity, through rape and torture, to disappearance and death.

We must not abandon the human angle in the negotiations, in the struggle for a just peace.  

Russia’s demands have been impossible for Ukraine to accept, especially over the Donbas. Others have assessed this four-year war far better than I have. Watch or read these contributions. Especially the NATO commemoration speeches and the DW News interviews.

KEY LINKS

NATO commemorates the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine 🇺🇦, 24 FEB 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi51Po8T9rI

Can Russia keep up its war effort indefinitely? | DW News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1-MGOaTl_4

How Putin’s 3-day war became 4-year bloodbath | How We Got Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QhN2RSZPB0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QhN2RSZPB0

Ukraine Four Years On: What’s Next for European Security?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XkQOWE59bg

4 years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a look at the war by the numbers: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/4-years-into-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-a-look-at-the-war-by-the-numbers

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine#

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Slava Ukraini

Heroiam slava!