San Francisco Frontiers - Ukraine marks four years since Russian invasion

Tens of thousands of lives have been lost since the Kremlin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, confident of a quick victory but not expecting the fierce resistance that followed.

The worldwide fallout of the war has been immense, with many European countries increasing their own defence spending in anticipation of a possible confrontation of their own with Russia.

But diplomatic talks between the two sides, relaunched last year by the United States, have so far failed to halt the fighting, which has devastated Ukraine and left it facing the mammoth task -- and bill -- of reconstruction.

Tuesday's anniversary is expected to see the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, in Kyiv to mark the occasion.

Both said they would take part in a "commemoration ceremony" and visit the site of a Ukrainian energy facility damaged by Russian strikes before attending a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

They are also due to take part in a videoconference meeting with Kyiv's allies -- the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" which includes Britain, France and Germany.

- Impasse -

Russia, which currently occupies nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, bombs civilian areas and infrastructure on a daily basis.

The Russian bombardment has sparked the worst energy crisis since the start of the invasion, during a bitter winter.

Kyiv's Western allies have slapped heavy sanctions on Moscow, forcing it to redirect its key oil exports towards new markets, particularly in Asia.

Despite heavy losses, Russian troops have in recent months advanced slowly on the frontline, particularly in the eastern Donbas region, which has been the epicentre of the bloody fighting and which Moscow wants to annex.

US-brokered talks are ongoing, with Zelensky unwavering in his demands for security guarantees from Washington before any talk of "compromise", including on territory, with Russia.

Russia, though, has rejected Ukrainian proposals for the deployment of European troops in Ukraine after any ceasefire deal.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that he will pursue his objectives by force if diplomacy fails.

- Reconstruction -

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

According to a joint World Bank, European Union and United Nations report with Kyiv, published on Monday, the cost of post-war reconstruction is estimated at around $558 billion over the next decade.

Russia justified sending troops into Ukraine to prevent Ukraine's ambition to join NATO, arguing that Kyiv's membership of the transatlantic alliance would threaten its own security.

On Monday, during a medal ceremony to mark "Defenders of the Fatherland Day", Putin insisted that his soldiers were defending Russia's "borders" in Ukraine, to ensure "strategic parity" between powers and fight for the country's "future".

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

In an interview with the BBC broadcast on Sunday, Zelensky said he believed Putin had "already started" World War III.

"Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life and change the lives people have chosen for themselves," he told the British public broadcaster.

M.Gonzalez--SFF