Feb 24, 2026 - 02:50 pm Four years ago today, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, upending the post-World War II security order in Europe and plunging Ukraine into what many in the country describe as a fight for its survival as an independent state. In the years since, scenes of mourning, destroyed buildings, explosions, power outages, makeshift memorials and Ukrainian cities reduced to rubble have all become commonplace.