Kyiv, Ukraine — Russia marked the fourth year of the war in Ukraine by vowing that it will keep fighting Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II until it achieves its goals.

 

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said four years of war have not broken his country.

 

"The goals haven't been fully achieved yet, which is why the military operation continues," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to an AFP question.

 

Ukraine, meanwhile, was ready to do "everything" it could to secure peace, Zelensky said in a video address that showed Ukrainians carrying out acts of resistance against Russian soldiers in the opening days of the conflict.

 

But any settlement must not "betray" the price paid by Ukrainians throughout the conflict, he said.

 

"We want peace. Strong, dignified, and lasting peace," he said, adding that any agreement "must not simply be signed, it must be accepted by Ukrainians,” Zelensky said.

 

"Everything Ukraine has gone through. It must not be surrendered, forgotten, or betrayed," he added.

 

In a later address to the European Parliament, Zelensky urged Brussels to set out a clear timeline for his country's accession to the bloc.

 

Several European leaders including Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the anniversary.

 

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was also there, saying she wanted to reaffirm that Europe stood "unwaveringly with Ukraine, financially, militarily, and through this harsh winter."

 

Territory dispute

 

The United States has been pushing to end the conflict, mediating talks between the two sides this year in Geneva and Abu Dhabi, but they remain at odds over the issue of territory.

 

Russia is fighting to gain full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal.

 

It has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table.

 

Ukraine has rejected the demand and said it would not sign a deal without security guarantees from allies -- including the US -- to deter Russia from invading again.

 

Russian troops have in recent months advanced on the front line, particularly in the eastern Donbas region, which Moscow wants to annex.

 

The Russian army seized more territory during the fourth year of the Ukraine war than in the preceding two years combined, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

 

Since February 24, 2025 -- the third anniversary of Russia's invasion -- Moscow's troops have taken 4,524 square kilometres, an area slightly larger than the US state of Rhode Island.

 

That is according to data from the ISW, which works with the Critical Threats Project (part of the American Enterprise Institute, or AEI), another US think-tank specialising in conflict.

 

The grinding four-year war has devastated Ukraine, which even before the fighting was one of the poorest countries in Europe.

 

The cost of post-war reconstruction is estimated at around $588 billion over the next decade, according to a joint World Bank, EU and UN report with Kyiv, published on Monday.

 

Russia cast its decision to send troops into Ukraine as a defensive move to halt Ukraine's ambition to join NATO.

 

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, considers the war to be a resurgence of Russian imperialism aimed at subjugating the Ukrainian people.