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Europe Today Special: Four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
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Tune in to Euronews' new flagship morning programme at 8 am Brussels time. In just 20 minutes, we bring you up to speed on the biggest news of the day.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/02/24/europe-today-special-four-years-since-russias-full-scale-invasion-of-ukraine
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:14Good morning, it is Tuesday the 24th of February. I'm Maeve McMahan and this is Europe Today.
00:21Your daily dose of European news and analysis live here on Euronews.
00:26Coming up, today marks four years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which unleashed the deadliest war on the
00:33continent since World War II.
00:36To begin this special edition, we can start by rewinding the clock to see how it all started.
00:41Jakub Yanis reports.
00:44Mia, I can hear you.
00:46Four years ago today, Russian troops crossed the border and the first missile struck Ukrainian cities.
00:54Yeah, I need to go and hide now, Marta, I need to go and hide.
00:57And millions of Ukrainians woke up to the sounds of explosions.
01:02Russia started its full-scale invasion, an all-out war which seemed unimaginable in the 21st century Europe.
01:10But human tragedy doesn't need another explanation.
01:13It needs memory.
01:15So today, here is the timeline Europeans must never forget.
01:21First missiles.
01:22First air raid sirens.
01:24First mass evacuations to the West.
01:27And almost immediately, first signs of fierce resilience.
01:32From the border guards on Snake Island refusing to surrender,
01:36two ordinary citizens protesting in the streets of occupied Kherson.
01:40From President Zelensky recording a video in the dark streets of Kiev,
01:45saying he's not going to flee,
01:47to Russian troops encircling the capital.
01:51With the occupation came what later proved to be horrifying atrocities
01:55in places like Bucha and Irpin.
01:59And in the south, Russian forces targeted Zaporizhia nuclear power plants
02:04and laid a brutal siege to the coastal city of Mariupol.
02:10Russia expected Kiev to fall in three days.
02:14And most military experts said it was not a matter of if, but when.
02:20But we are now in 2026.
02:23Moscow destroys civilian energy infrastructure,
02:26causing massive blackouts and leaving millions freezing.
02:30And the war has evolved, redefined by drones and technology.
02:36And Europe.
02:37Over 4 million Ukrainian refugees hold temporary EU protection.
02:41Three quarters are women and children,
02:43since martial law requires military-aged men to stay and fight.
02:48And while Kiev and Washington both want a ceasefire,
02:52Moscow simply refuses to stop the fighting.
02:55And so, the timeline of this tragedy keeps ticking.
03:04Jakob Janus reporting for us there.
03:06And to mark this sombre moment,
03:08Ukrainian flags are flying outside the EU institutions today.
03:12And the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,
03:14and the President of the Council, Antonia Kosta,
03:16are visiting Kiev today.
03:18For more, we can actually cross now live to the Ukrainian capital,
03:21where AP correspondent Philip Craither is standing by for us.
03:25Good morning, Philip.
03:26Thank you so much for joining us.
03:27Let's just tell us, what is the mood in Kiev this morning?
03:30And how are locals holding up four years on?
03:36Well, look, this is still a very proud country indeed.
03:39And I think it's fair to say that the first impression today,
03:43surprisingly, might have been one of relief for most Ukrainians
03:46because of the blue skies and the just above freezing temperatures we have here today.
03:52That is not a trivial matter because it has been such a brutally cold winter over the last few weeks
03:57and months
03:58because of Russian attacks on Ukraine's electricity grid.
04:02So many Ukrainians have had to survive without electricity and without heating.
04:06Of course, the situation along the front line and in eastern Ukraine, particularly critical.
04:12Ukraine is also, of course, very aware that this country is now entering its fifth year of war with Russia.
04:18And there is no end in sight, essentially.
04:21And most Ukrainians know this, of course, at this moment.
04:26It is a stalemate right now, both on the very long front line with Russian forces,
04:32but also politically there is a stalemate with both the Russian and Ukrainian sides
04:37essentially not budging and not getting closer in their negotiating positions
04:42that could lead to at least a ceasefire and possibly a lasting peace in the future.
04:48And meanwhile, Philip, EU leaders are in Kiev today.
04:51What should we expect from their visit?
04:56Yeah, as you mentioned, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
04:59and European Council President Antonia Costa will be here today in Kiev.
05:04They were hoping that they could bring a 20th Russian sanctions package with them
05:10with unanimous approval from Brussels.
05:12That was not to be because of Hungarian opposition.
05:15Also, a huge loan for Ukraine has not been made possible at this point.
05:21Of course, now is also a moment to look back at past anniversaries,
05:25and the mood certainly has changed.
05:28There are fewer foreign leaders expected here in Kiev on this fourth anniversary.
05:33You might want to look back at the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.
05:37A few days just prior, U.S. President Joe Biden was here with full U.S. support for Ukraine.
05:45Well, how times have changed.
05:46We are not expecting any U.S. presence here in Kiev today.
05:50And, of course, U.S. President Donald Trump might be watching from Washington,
05:54and he is, of course, key to any possible negotiations for a ceasefire or a peace here in Ukraine.
06:02OK. Philip Crowther, thank you so much for that live update there from the Ukrainian capital.
06:07And, as Philip reported there, a £90 billion loan to Ukraine has indeed been blocked by Hungary.
06:12And a 20th sanctions package was held up as well by Hungary and Slovakia.
06:16For more on what happens next, we're joined now here on set by our very own EU news editor, Maria
06:21Tadeo.
06:22Good morning.
06:22Good morning.
06:22So, look, is the EU showing up here empty-hunted then today?
06:25Well, not quite, because, as you said, Ursula von der Leyen and Antoni Kosta, they are already in Ukraine.
06:32They arrived this morning, and the expectation, according to sources, are familiar in explaining it to Euronews.
06:38The goal of this trip, the head of the commission will announce a package dedicated to the energy.
06:43The energy infrastructure is severely damaged, worth €100 million, and that announcement will be made.
06:49But, of course, it's not really what the commission and the member states were hoping to achieve in a day
06:54like today.
06:54The idea was to present that €90 billion loan for Ukraine, but also, of course, the sanctions on Russia on
07:02this anniversary.
07:03Now, yesterday, there was a meeting of European foreign ministers.
07:07The Hungarians double-vetoed that package.
07:10Slovakia also announced late yesterday that it would halt some of the emergency electricity supply to Ukraine.
07:15And all of this going on with a dispute over a pipeline that transits Russian oil that both Hungary and
07:21Slovakia accused Ukraine of not doing enough to fix it after it was damaged.
07:26Of course, yesterday, we understand that there was a form of clash between the Hungarians and Slovakia.
07:31The Ukrainian foreign minister participated also in this call over who is going to repair this pipeline and who is
07:37responsible for it.
07:38At this point, the European Union still insists the damage was carried out by Russia.
07:42The Ukrainians are doing the best they can, but this is a difficult situation.
07:45And there is some fury in some sectors in Brussels today who now say at this point the Hungarians are
07:51abusing their veto right because the loan had already been approved in December and it's unrelated to the pipeline.
07:57You're going to get a lot of talk about Article 7, of course, suspending some of the member rights,
08:01the idea of qualified majority for foreign policy decisions and the principle of sincere cooperation.
08:07But the reality is, Maeve, is that Brussels is also scared of doing too much and going too hard on
08:12the Hungarians because the election campaign is still on ahead of April.
08:16Of course, Maria, today, our EURO News EURO, thank you so much for that update.
08:19And of course, here at EURO News, we had the opportunity to speak to a number of those foreign ministers,
08:23many expressing their disappointment in this decision by Hungary.
08:26And actually, Radicev Sikorsky, that's the Polish-Hungarian foreign minister, spoke to Arshona Murray on the sidelines of that meeting.
08:33And she started by asking exactly what its message to the Hungarian government was.
08:38Hungary has had plenty of opportunities over the years to do what the rest of Europe has already done,
08:44namely to sign long-term contracts for the delivery of oil and gas from the south without having to buy
08:52it directly from Putin.
08:53And thereby oiling Putin's war machine.
08:57They've done it before.
08:58Remember, they vetoed the disbursement of about 7 billion euros to countries that have supplied equipment to Ukraine from the
09:08European peace facility,
09:10including half a billion real money to Poland.
09:14And also remember that one of the priorities of the Polish presidency was to open at least one negotiating cluster
09:22with Ukraine,
09:24fundamentals, democracy, rule of law.
09:28Supposedly, Hungary has problems with treatment of minorities, so it should be in favor of negotiating the first cluster.
09:38But Hungary vetoed it.
09:40So this is an escalation of established practice that favors Vladimir Putin.
09:46So what's the solution?
09:47Because as you said there, this has been a sort of a myriad of blockages over the past few years.
09:52I mean, what is the solution here?
09:54Is it Article 7 or what is it?
09:55Well, I personally am not sure what the state, technical state of the pipeline is.
10:03I understand it was damaged by the Russians.
10:07If so, then it's a little unfair to blame and to take it out on the Ukrainians, the victims of
10:14aggression.
10:16So I hope that matter is clarified.
10:19I hope, as I said, that Hungary gets its oil from other directions.
10:24And then, of course, we know in what context this is happening, in the context of Hungarian elections.
10:30So I hope whoever wins will take a new look at it.
10:35What do you see for the moment for Europe, given that the United States has really taken itself off the
10:41pitch in supporting Ukraine and Europe is alone?
10:44I mean, for the next few years coming up, what do you see happening?
10:48Well, I think our cards, to use terminology that is close to Donald Trump's heart, are quite strong.
10:57We have supported Ukraine more than the United States.
11:01We are now the sole source of support for the Ukrainian state, for the Ukrainian armed forces, for the Ukrainian
11:09defense industry.
11:11And sooner or later will come a point where the United States and Putin will realize that Ukraine will make
11:19its own decisions based on the support that it has from Europe.
11:24And therefore, that Europe's view and Europe's security interests cannot be ignored.
11:33Radislav Sikorsky there, the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, speaking to our Shona Murray.
11:38And now for the view from Ukraine, we can bring in Hefenya Kravtuk, a member of the Ukrainian parliament since
11:442019.
11:45Good morning, Hefenya. Thank you so much for joining us here on Europe Today.
11:50Thank you, May, for having me.
11:51Look, as you've been hearing there, that crucial loan for Ukraine is being held up due to politics.
11:57What does that mean now for your country?
11:59Well, we hope that European Commission and European leaders can actually sort it out,
12:05because clearly the vote in European parliament and the political will is there.
12:09So it's just something that Hungary always does, trying to get more money in return from European budget,
12:18because Hungary is actually not donated into European common budget, but extracting money.
12:24And obviously, of course, it's being used now during the campaign, which is in full swing in Hungary.
12:33But what I can tell you on the fourth year's anniversary of the full-scale invasion,
12:41an actual 12-year of aggression itself, because it all started in 2014 by an accession of Crimea,
12:48and actually it made an appeasement to Russia, to Putin, that, you know, no one actually cared too much,
12:56and sanctions were weak, and Europe and the whole world didn't send a signal that if you violate the law,
13:04then there are some, you know, circumstances.
13:06And in the result, Kremlin was sure that Europe will not be united, will not be helping.
13:15Well, obviously, Ukrainians will give up.
13:17And here we are, you know, this three day, Kiev in three days is now four years.
13:21And we were able to save our statehood and to save our sovereignty.
13:27Indeed. And look, the sanctions package is on hold, the fund, the loan is on hold,
13:33and also the US-led talks seem to be on hold, or on limbo, or it's stalemate,
13:36as our correspondent earlier, Philip Kreider, reported from Kiev.
13:39Do you think President Trump is really interested in peace?
13:43Well, I think that President Trump really is interested to announce that he ended another war.
13:49Obviously, that had been in intention during his campaign,
13:54and now we see that he wants to be this peacemaker in the world.
13:57But it does take an effort, because this war is much bigger than a regional conflict.
14:05It is the, you know, Russia trying to divide the Europe to have these spheres of influence.
14:13So hopefully, we'll see some pressure on Russia, not on Ukraine.
14:17OK, Hefienia Kravchuk, Ukrainian MP, thank you so much for joining us this morning on Europe Today.
14:22Thank you for having me.
14:24And beyond, of course, politics and diplomacy are real people and families who've been suffering immense losses.
14:29Thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted, are now held in Russia, or Russian-occupied territories.
14:35For more on this side of the story, I'm joined here on set by our very own Sasha Vakilina.
14:39Sasha, you've been reporting on this very sad side of the story.
14:42Tell us more about your investigations.
14:43This is indeed one of the most tragic aspects of Russia's full-scale invasion,
14:47which also proven to be a deliberate strategy by Moscow, maybe.
14:50Because for the first time, when Russia abducted Ukrainian child, it was in Crimea in 2014.
14:54And it might take years for Kyiv to bring one single child back.
15:03Over the past four years, Russia forcefully deported at least 20,000 Ukrainian children.
15:09Kyiv managed to bring back 2,000.
15:11Among them is Vlad Buryak.
15:13He was 16 when Russian forces abducted him at the checkpoint as he tried to evacuate from occupied Militopol to
15:20Zapurizha.
15:21Vlad was taken first to the filtration camp and then to a Russian prison.
15:24He spent 90 days in captivity.
15:27One of my job was cleaning torture room.
15:32After torturing, in this special room was lots of blood, was lots of like medicine bandages and everything.
15:43And after torturing, I most of time cleaned a torturing room.
15:49After blood, just mop the floor, take off some rubbish from this room.
15:54Lots of Russian soldiers and lots of Russian spellchef forces who tortured people.
16:00They say that Ukraine not already exists.
16:06Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab placed the number of deported Ukrainian children closer to 35,000.
16:12Moscow claimed that the number could be as high as 700,000.
16:16The actions of the Russian Federation towards Ukrainian children are not isolated incidents or humanitarian decisions gone wrong.
16:24They are part of a deliberate strategy, a state policy of demographic engineering and identity erasure.
16:31This is the arc of Russia's design.
16:33Isolate, reprogram, deploy.
16:36If we speak about the scale, the true numbers are only known to Russia.
16:42According to Ukrainian officials, over one and a half million Ukrainian children currently remain under Russian occupation.
16:56Sasha Vakilina reporting there for us.
16:58And you can read more about Vlad's story on Euronews.com.
17:02But now to hear how morale among Ukrainian soldiers is, four years into the full-scale invasion,
17:08we can bring in now Dmytro Chotenko, a young Ukrainian who gave up his job in IT to join the
17:13front line.
17:14Good morning, Dmytro.
17:15Thank you so much for joining us here on Europe Today.
17:18Morning, mate.
17:19Welcome to the day 1,462.
17:22Just tell us, how is the morale now among soldiers?
17:26It's high.
17:26The morale is high.
17:28And I think we just accepted.
17:32Say it again?
17:33Check, check.
17:34Can you hear me?
17:36Got to hear.
17:38Yeah.
17:39Yes.
17:40We can hear you.
17:41Even though it's day 1,462, the morale is high.
17:47We just accepted that we are here for as long as we need to.
17:51So we could defend our homes, defend our families, you know.
17:54And this motivation, I think, during the war, it has evolved into, like, a very stoic mindset for all of
18:02the fighters here.
18:04How long more do you think the war will last?
18:07And how much more can you put up with it?
18:11I think it's going to last at least a year.
18:15Russian idiots are not planning to stop anyhow.
18:19And even if we destroy them in, like, hundreds of thousands, they're not willing to stop.
18:26So there must be another solution, another actions that we might take, such as destroy their ability to wage the
18:33war.
18:33And for that, we do the enormous amount of deep strikes.
18:36It's a big power shift in the warfare.
18:38But it's still a long process.
18:40So to destroy Russia economically, it's a very long game.
18:44And you're live, of course, here on Euronews.
18:46We're broadcasting from Brussels.
18:47So what would be your message this morning for EU leaders and policymakers right here in the de facto EU
18:52capital?
18:53I would suggest that you guys read a very recent article by the Wall Street Journal saying about Ukraine NATO
19:01training,
19:02where 10 Ukrainian soldiers, together with their drones, they took out two entire battalions of joint forces of NATO.
19:09I think that this is the right time for the NATO forces to come and learn from Ukrainians as soon
19:16as possible,
19:17because we are so interested in having you strong.
19:21Okay, Dmitry, thank you so much for sending on that message and for joining us this morning on Europe Today.
19:26This does bring, though, our special edition of Europe Today to an end.
19:30Later, we'll bring you actually that press conference live from Kiev to hear President Zelenskyy alongside EU leaders.
19:35So do tune in for that.
19:36And tune in again tomorrow.
19:37We'll be joined here on set by the Vice President, Theresa Rivera of the Commission.
19:41Take care and thanks for watching.
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