Four years ago this week, on Feb. 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion, expecting Kyiv to fall within days and sovereign Ukraine to disappear within weeks. He had begun his military aggression against Ukraine back in 2014 when his unidentified “green men” seized Crimea and plunged the Donbas into a bloodbath.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. He was confident Russia’s might and the West’s hesitation. would allow him to get away with his criminal goals. He was wrong. Ukraine still stands. Its flag flies over Kyiv. Its military fights on. Its people endure, remaining defiant and hopeful. The cost has been brutal. Tens of thousands of soldiers are dead. Thousands of civilians killed. Millions displaced. Cities reduced to rubble. Some 18 percent of Ukraine’s territory occupied by the Russian invaders. Yet Ukraine has not broken. Whatever his domestic shortcomings, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has provided the necessary wartime leadership and become a Churchillian figure on the international scene. Ukraine’s armed forces have held the line against a larger enemy. Citizens have kept the country running through blackouts and air raids. Western military aid and financial support have been crucial. But US President Donald Trump’s approach has created grave uncertainty about his country’s commitment. Europe has stepped up instead. Britain, France, Germany, Poland, the Nordics, the Baltics, and Canada – a Coalition of the Willing – are filling the void.