Four years of war in Ukraine: Five markers

PARIS - The war in Ukraine, sparked by the Russian invasion in 2022, is now entering its fifth year. Here are five markers in Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

The four years of war have left tens or hundreds of thousands dead and pushed millions of refugees to flee their homes.

February 24, 2022: Invasion starts

On February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognises the independence of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army since 2014.

Three days later at dawn, Putin announces a major military offensive in Ukraine, which he calls a "special military operation" to "de-Nazify" and "demilitarise" its neighbour.

The Russian army advances rapidly in the south and northeast of the country, but fails to seize the capital Kyiv, from where President Volodymyr Zelensky leads the resistance.

The southeastern port city of Mariupol falls after a brutal months-long siege. The first negotiations, held in Belarus and Turkey, founder.

A Ukrainian Honour Guard stands as a symbolic illumination entitled "Rays of Memory" is projected over the graves of Ukrainian soldiers who died in the war with Russia, at Lychakiv Military Cemetery in Lviv on February 23, 2026, ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (AFP Photo)

Spring of 2022: Bucha massacre

After Russian forces abandon Kyiv's suburbs, the bodies of hundreds of civilians who have been summarily executed are found on the streets of Bucha and neighbouring areas.
Ukraine accuses the Russian army, which denies responsibility.

The macabre discoveries, witnessed among others by AFP, cause an international outcry and spark the first war crimes investigations.

A year later, on March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issues a war crimes arrest warrant against Putin, accusing him of "unlawfully deporting" Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

Summer 2022-winter 2023: Ukrainian counteroffensives

From the summer of 2022, Ukrainian forces launch a string of counteroffensives. With the help of deliveries of weapons from its Western allies, Kyiv retakes swathes of the northeastern Kharkiv region and the regional capital Kherson in the south. A long and bloody battle takes place in the eastern city of Bakhmut, which lies in ruins.

As it struggles, Russia in June 2023 is faced by another threat in the form of a mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, which marches on Moscow, but then retreats.

Its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin dies two months later in a mysterious plane crash.

In the summer of 2023, the Ukrainian army relaunches its efforts in the south and east, but fails to pierce Russian defences.

2024: Kursk, Russia advances slowly

From February 2024 Russian forces regain the initiative on the frontline.

Despite losses, Moscow advances slowly but surely, seizing several strongholds in the east from a Ukrainian army short on manpower and ammunition.

In August 2024, Ukrainian troops cross the Russian border, seizing hundreds of square kilometres in the western Kursk region. They are driven out in March 2025, after a battle in which Russia is helped by North Korean troops.

Members of the media view a Ukrainian railway carriage that was attacked by a Russian drone on January 27, 2026 near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine killing six people, on display at the Kyiv central train station on February 23, 2026, ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Credit: AFP)

Russia makes a string of deadly drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian territory, which powerful American Patriot air defence missiles and F-16 fighter jets delivered to Kyiv do not counter.

On November 21, 2024, Russia targets Ukraine with a new nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, nicknamed Oreshnik, hitting a Ukrainian military factory.

The missile is used for a second time on January 8, 2026, on an aircraft factory.
2025-2026: Trump diplomacy

Back for a second term at the White House, US President Donald Trump creates shock waves by saying he and Putin have agreed to start direct talks.

On February 28, in a televised clash with Zelensky at the White House, Trump threatens to cut military aid to Ukraine.

Trump then blows hot and cold towards both Kyiv and Moscow. In November, he unveils a draft plan for Ukraine which meets Moscow's main demands, including the ceding of Ukrainian territory, in exchange for security guarantees for Kyiv.

Seeking to keep up the pressure, Russia carries out a series of strikes which knock out large parts of Ukraine's energy network, leaving hundreds of thousands in the dark and cold, during a particularly harsh winter. Ukraine launches strikes on Russian oil refineries in response.

Diplomacy ploughs on. Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators meet in Abu Dhabi then in Geneva in January and February 2026.

Moscow continues to demand Kyiv withdraw completely from the eastern Donbas region, which Ukraine views as a key sticking point.