ALBAWABA - The war between Russia and Ukraine has entered its fifth year today, since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" to invade Kyiv after Ukraine moved closer to joining NATO.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Putin's soldiers started a ground invasion of Ukraine in addition to drone and missile attacks. Now, Moscow controls 20 percent of Ukraine, and Russia aims to have full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal, a condition which Kyiv strongly rejects.
During the past four years, several peace talks - mediated by the United States- have failed to reach any agreement between the two countries. Latest negotaions occured in Geneva but ended without breakingthought.
People pass by a digital screen displaying an ad promoting contract military service in Saint Petersburg on February 20, 2026. (Photo by Olga MALTSEVA / AFP)
Russia-Ukraine military casualties:
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that at least 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have now been killed since the full-scale invasion by Russia, The Independent reported on the fourth anniversary of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
However, for Russia, military casualties are believed to be much more. The BBC was able to obtain the names of 186,102 dead Russian soldiers, but experts believe this only represents 45 to 65 percent of the total death toll.
According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Russian forces have suffered about 1.2 million casualties (killed, wounded, and missing), of which at least 325,000 have been killed since 2022.
Ukrainian recruits complete basic military training at an undisclosed location in Zaporizhzhia region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Andriy Andriyenko / 65th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces / AFP)
Russia-Ukraine civilian casualties:
In four years, at least 15,172 civilians have been killed, including 739 children, in Ukraine in Russian attacks, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported.
In addition, more than 40,000 people have been injured in Ukraine since the start of the war, OHCHR mentioned.
On the other hand, reports say that the death toll in Russia is much lower, with the last report suggesting that 79 people have been killed. However, no new data detailed the real civilian death toll in Russia.
Post-war reconstruction cost:
Attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure increased during the past year. Ukraine programme coordinator for rights group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) told The Independent that there were 662 attacks on healthcare facilities in 2025, marking a 48 percent increase from 2024.
The cost of post-war reconstruction is estimated at about $588 billion over the next decade, a report shared jointly on Monday by the World Bank, the EU, the UN and Kyiv showed.
