Putin has ‘not broken’ Ukraine in 4 years since Russian invasion, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Tuesday that Russia has not “broken Ukrainians” nor triumphed in its war, four years after an invasion that has severely tested the resolve of Kyiv and its allies and fueled European fears about the scale of Moscow’s ambitions.

In a show of support, more than a dozen senior European officials headed to the Ukrainian capital to mark the grim anniversary of the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people, upended life for millions of Ukrainians and created instability far beyond its borders.

Zelenskyy said his country has withstood the onslaught by Russia’s bigger and better equipped army, which over the past year of fighting captured just 0.79% of Ukraine’s territory , according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. Russia now holds nearly 20% of Ukraine.

“Looking back at the beginning of the invasion and reflecting on today, we have every right to say: We have defended our independence, we have not lost our statehood,” Zelenskyy said on social media, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “not achieved his goals.”

“He has not broken Ukrainians; he has not won this war,” Zelenskyy said.

Despite the show of defiance, Ukraine has struggled to hold off Russia’s onslaught, and the war has brought widespread hardship for Ukrainian civilians. Russia’s aerial attacks have devastated families and denied civilians power and running water .

People hide in a metro station, being used as a bomb shelter, during a Russian drones attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov. 14, 2025. (Dan Bashakov/AP)

Putin made no mention of the anniversary nor did he say how the war was going when he spoke at a meeting in Moscow of top officials of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, on Tuesday.

However, he told them that the threat of Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil has grown. Ukraine has increasingly deployed long-range drones that it has developed to strike oil refineries, fuel depots and military logistics hubs more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) inside Russia.

As the war of attrition enters its fifth year, a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the largest conflict on the continent since World War II appears no closer to finding compromises that might make a peace deal possible.

Negotiations are stuck on what happens to the Donbas, eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland that Russian forces mostly occupy but have failed to seize completely, and the terms of a postwar security arrangement that Kyiv is demanding to deter any future Russian invasion.

The U.N. General Assembly called Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, rejecting a different resolution proposed by the U.S .

Washington supports an immediate ceasefire, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Tammy Bruce said before the vote, but opposed language in the approved resolution that stresses Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, because it would “distract” from the peace talks.

At a makeshift memorial in Kyiv’s central square, where thousands of small flags and portraits show photos of fallen soldiers, Zelenskyy said he would like U.S. President Donald Trump to visit and witness for himself Ukrainian suffering.

“Only then can one truly understand what this war is really about,” Zelenskyy said.

An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha, March 1, 2022. (Serhii Nuzhnenko/AP)

Trump, who once vowed to end the war in a day, has repeatedly changed his tone toward Putin and Zelenskyy over the past year: sometimes criticizing the Ukrainian leader’s negotiating position while reaching out to the Russian leader and at others lashing out at Putin for heavy barrages and appearing more sympathetic to the Ukrainian predicament.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the invasion would continue in pursuit of Moscow’s goals. They include a demand that Ukraine renounce its bid to join NATO, sharply cut its army and cede vast swaths of territory.

Zelenskyy said he expected a fresh round of U.S.-brokered talks with Russia within the next 10 days.

The number of soldiers killed, injured or missing on both sides could reach 2 million by spring, with Russia sustaining the largest number of troop deaths for any major power in any conflict since World War II, a report last month from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated.

European leaders see their countries’ own security at stake in Ukraine amid concerns that Putin may target them next.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on X that “for four years, every day and every night has been a nightmare for the Ukrainians — and not just for them, but for us all. Because war is back in Europe.”

“We will only end it by being strong together, because the fate of Ukraine is our fate,” he added.

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, August 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Putin believes that time is on the side of his bigger army, Western officials and analysts say — and that Western support will trail off and that Ukraine’s military resistance will eventually crumble.

Already Trump has ended new military aid to Ukraine — though other NATO countries now buy American weapons and give them to Kyiv .

But French President Emmanuel Macron described the war as “a triple failure for Russia: military, economic, and strategic.”

The war “has strengthened NATO — the very expansion Russia sought to prevent — galvanized Europeans it hoped to weaken, and laid bare the fragility of an imperialism from another age,” Macron said on X.

The European Union has also sent financial aid, but has sometimes met with reluctance from members Hungary and Slovakia.

While NATO countries have come to Ukraine’s aid, Russia has been helped by North Korea, which has sent thousands of troops and artillery shells; Iran, which has provided drone technology; and China, which the United States and analysts say has provided machine tools and chips.

Among the European officials visiting Kyiv on Tuesday were the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, as well as seven prime ministers and four foreign ministers.

The only American listed among the official guests in Kyiv ceremonies was Lt. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, a U.S. officer who represents NATO in Ukraine.

British Armed Forces Minister Al Carns said Russia’s war on Ukraine was “the most defining conflict” in decades.

The war has brought a “revolution in military affairs,” especially through the rapid development of drone technology by both sides, according to Carns. Drones now cause the vast majority of battlefield casualties , he said.

Both sides face challenges in finding enough troops and are increasingly turning to uncrewed aerial drones that take the killing to areas far from the front lines, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said in its annual report on the global military situation.

“Given both sides’ reliance on external support for materiel, decisions taken in foreign capitals will play an important role in shaping the war’s trajectory,” the think tank added.

The United Kingdom on Tuesday announced a new package of military and humanitarian support for Ukraine, including sending teams of British military medics to instruct their Ukrainian counterparts.

The cost of rebuilding war-battered Ukraine would amount to almost $588 billion over the next decade, according to World Bank, the European Commission, the United Nations and the Ukrainian government.

That is nearly three times the estimated nominal GDP of Ukraine for last year, they said in a report Monday.

乌克兰总统泽连斯基周二宣称，俄罗斯既没有“击垮乌克兰人”，也没有在战争中取得胜利。四年前，俄罗斯入侵乌克兰，严重考验了基辅及其盟友的决心，并加剧了欧洲对莫斯科野心规模的担忧。

为了表示支持，十几位欧洲高级官员前往乌克兰首都，纪念这场冲突的惨痛周年纪念日。这场冲突已造成数万人死亡，颠覆了数百万乌克兰人的生活，并在乌克兰境外造成了广泛的不稳定。

泽连斯基表示，乌克兰经受住了俄罗斯规模更大、装备更精良的军队的猛烈进攻。据位于华盛顿的智库“战争研究所”统计，过去一年来，俄罗斯军队仅占领了乌克兰0.79%的领土。目前，俄罗斯控制着乌克兰近20%的领土。

泽连斯基在社交媒体上表示：“回顾入侵的开始，反思今天，我们完全有理由说：我们捍卫了我们的独立，我们没有失去我们的国家地位。”他还补充说，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京“没有实现他的目标”。

泽连斯基说：“他没有击垮乌克兰人民；他没有赢得这场战争。”

尽管乌克兰表现出抵抗姿态，但仍难以抵挡俄罗斯的猛烈攻势，战争给乌克兰平民带来了广泛的苦难。俄罗斯的空袭摧毁了无数家庭，并剥夺了平民的电力和自来水供应。

2025年11月14日，在乌克兰基辅，人们躲在被用作防空洞的地铁站内，躲避俄罗斯无人机袭击。（丹·巴沙科夫/美联社）

普京周二在莫斯科与联邦安全局（FSB）高级官员会面时，既没有提及周年纪念日，也没有说明战争进展情况。

然而，他告诉他们，乌克兰袭击俄罗斯领土的威胁日益加剧。乌克兰越来越多地部署其自主研发的远程无人机，用于袭击位于俄罗斯境内1000公里（600英里）以外的炼油厂、燃料库和军事后勤枢纽。

这场消耗战已进入第五年，美国主导的旨在结束二战以来非洲大陆最大规模冲突的外交努力似乎仍未取得任何可能达成和平协议的妥协。

谈判陷入僵局，焦点在于顿巴斯地区的命运。顿巴斯是乌克兰东部的工业中心，俄罗斯军队大部分占领了该地区，但未能完全控制它。谈判的焦点还在于战后安全安排的条款，基辅方面要求达成这项安排，以阻止俄罗斯未来的任何入侵。

联合国大会周二呼吁乌克兰立即停火，拒绝了美国提出的另一项决议。

美国副大使塔米·布鲁斯在投票前表示，华盛顿支持立即停火，但反对已获批准的决议中强调乌克兰主权和领土完整的措辞，因为这会“分散”和平谈判的注意力。

在基辅市中心广场的一个临时纪念碑前，成千上万面小旗帜和阵亡士兵的照片被摆放在一起，泽连斯基表示，他希望美国总统唐纳德·特朗普能够访问乌克兰，亲眼目睹乌克兰人民的苦难。

“只有这样，人们才能真正理解这场战争的真正意义，”泽连斯基说。

2022年3月1日，一名持枪男子站在布查一辆俄罗斯军用车辆的残骸旁。（Serhii Nuzhnenko/AP）

特朗普曾誓言要在一天之内结束战争，但在过去一年里，他对普京和泽连斯基的态度却反复变化：有时批评乌克兰领导人的谈判立场，同时向俄罗斯领导人示好；有时又猛烈抨击普京的猛烈炮击，并表现出对乌克兰困境的同情。

克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫表示，入侵行动将继续进行，以实现莫斯科的目标。这些目标包括要求乌克兰放弃加入北约的申请、大幅削减军队规模并割让大片领土。

泽连斯基表示，他预计在未来10天内，由美国斡旋的俄俄新一轮会谈将会举行。

据战略与国际研究中心上个月发布的一份报告估计，到今年春天，双方阵亡、受伤或失踪的士兵人数可能达到 200 万，其中俄罗斯的伤亡人数将是二战以来任​​何主要大国在任何冲突中伤亡人数最多的。

欧洲领导人认为，乌克兰局势危及本国安全，他们担心普京可能会将他们作为下一个目标。

德国总理弗里德里希·默茨在X网站上写道：“四年来，每一天、每一夜对乌克兰人来说都是一场噩梦——不仅对他们而言如此，对我们所有人来说也是如此。因为战争又回到了欧洲。”

“只有团结一致，我们才能结束这场战争，因为乌克兰的命运就是我们的命运，”他补充道。

2025年8月，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普（右）与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京在埃尔门多夫-理查森联合基地同行。（安德鲁·哈尼克/盖蒂图片社）

西方官员和分析人士表示，普京认为时间站在他兵力更雄的军队一边，西方的支持将会逐渐减少，乌克兰的军事抵抗最终将会崩溃。

特朗普已经停止向乌克兰提供新的军事援助——尽管其他北约国家现在购买美国武器并将它们提供给基辅。

但法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙将这场战争描述为“俄罗斯的三重失败：军事、经济和战略上的失败”。

马克龙在X上表示，这场战争“加强了北约——这正是俄罗斯试图阻止的扩张——激励了它希望削弱的欧洲人，并暴露了另一个时代的帝国主义的脆弱性”。

欧盟也提供了财政援助，但有时会遭到成员国匈牙利和斯洛伐克的抵制。

虽然北约国家向乌克兰提供了援助，但俄罗斯也得到了朝鲜的帮助，朝鲜向俄罗斯派遣了数千名士兵和炮弹；伊朗提供了无人机技术；而中国则提供了机床和芯片，美国和分析人士称中国提供了这些物资。

周二访问基辅的欧洲官员包括欧洲理事会主席安东尼奥·科斯塔、欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩和芬兰总统亚历山大·斯图布，以及七位总理和四位外交部长。

在基辅的仪式上，唯一一位被列入官方嘉宾名单的美国人是柯蒂斯·巴扎德中将，他是一位代表北约驻乌克兰的美国军官。

英国武装部队部长阿尔·卡恩斯表示，俄罗斯对乌克兰的战争是几十年来“最具决定性的冲突”。

卡恩斯表示，这场战争带来了“军事领域的革命”，尤其体现在双方无人机技术的快速发展上。他说，如今绝大多数战场伤亡都是由无人机造成的。

总部位于伦敦的国际战略研究所在其年度全球军事形势报告中指出，双方都面临着兵力不足的挑战，并且越来越多地转向无人驾驶无人机，将杀戮带到远离前线的地区。

该智库补充说：“鉴于双方都依赖外部物资支持，外国首都做出的决定将在塑造战争走向方面发挥重要作用。”

英国周二宣布了一项新的对乌克兰的军事和人道主义援助计划，其中包括派遣英国军事医疗队指导乌克兰同行。

世界银行、欧盟委员会、联合国和乌克兰政府估计，未来十年重建饱受战争蹂躏的乌克兰将耗资近 5880 亿美元。

他们在周一发布的一份报告中称，这几乎是乌克兰去年名义GDP估计值的三倍。