Ukraine: Where the war stands three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion
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It's been three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the early hours of the 24th of February 2022, Russian missile strikes lit up the sky above Ukrainian cities. Within hours, Russian ground troops had crossed over the border. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed and there have been hundreds of thousands of injuries on both sides.

For a generation of young Ukrainians, war has become the backdrop to their lives. War doesn't just destroy buildings and cities. It takes away your plans and dreams. The future I once envisioned for myself no longer exists. Now, debates over how to end this war have been heating up, and that's led to public clashes between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On today's episode, we're breaking down the latest on where this war stands, and you'll hear directly from young Ukrainians about how their lives have changed. I'm Hannah Gelbart, and this is What in the World from the BBC World Service.

Here to tell us more is Vitaly Shevchenko, who is BBC Monitoring's Russia editor and a host of the BBC podcast UkraineCast. Vitaly, hi. Hi, Anna. First things first, talk me through why Vladimir Putin chose to invade Ukraine. Well, throughout various points in its history, Ukraine or parts of Ukraine were part of the Russian Empire. In the Soviet Union, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.

After the Soviet Union broke up, Ukraine started to look westwards. Vladimir Putin, who's been in charge of Russia for, what, a quarter of a century, he was okay with it as long as Ukraine was ruled by a president reasonably friendly towards Russia, i.e. as long as Ukraine was part or within Russia's orbit. However, the moment Ukraine elected...

a president that was firmly pro-European, pro-Western and said, "Well, look, we've got to go our own way." That's when problems started in 2014. Russia secretly, on the sly, invaded Ukraine, sending soldiers without insignia and saying, "No, no, no, they're not our soldiers. You can buy these uniforms in any shop and have nothing to do with us." Annexed Crimea in the south, parts of Donbas in the east,

And then 10 years later, it launched an open attack against Ukraine called the Special Military Operation, in the words of Vladimir Putin, or the Full-Scale Invasion, as it's known in Ukraine, because unlike the previous invasion, it's full and open, right? And the question is why?

And I think the answer to that question is because Vladimir Putin and a huge part of the Russian political elite and the population, they never really accepted Ukraine as an independent nation with its own culture, language, political aspirations and the will to live according to

its own rules and standards. Vladimir Putin, he keeps calling Russians and Ukrainians one people, one people that just don't see Ukraine as an independent nation. They think it belongs in Russia. This full-scale invasion has resulted in so many casualties on both sides. I want to pause for just a moment and you're going to hear from some young Ukrainians about their experiences.

My name is Volodymyr and I'm 23 years old. I live in Kyiv. Over the last few years, my life has changed significantly. I lived in Mariupol before the full-scale invasion began and then I moved to Kyiv. Only in Mariupol, the city I loved was the Westinink. And a lot of people I had known and my colleagues, friends from Mariupol

has disappeared without a trace and now I definitely understand that my life will not be the same after all the horrors I've seen during the war. After my transition to Kyiv, it looked safer but still faced the reality of war daily. The frequent air alarms, especially in recent months, disrupt our sleep and daily routines and make it challenging to maintain a normal life

normal work and anything we do in our daily routine. Hi, my name is Marina. I am 23 years old and I'm from Kharkiv. War doesn't just destroy buildings and cities. It takes away your plans and dreams. The future I once envisioned for myself in my home city, Kharkiv, no longer exists. All my plans have been destroyed and the future feels distant.

My name is Olga, I'm 34 and I live in Lviv city. Over the past three years my life has been completely transformed by the challenges our nation has faced. Before the war started I enjoyed a sense of stability and routine, like work, family and community were at the center of my life. But today each day is marked by uncertainty and resilience.

Because you never know what will you face the next morning while going to bed the previous day. Vitaly, over the past week, Donald Trump has been accused of flipping the script on the Ukraine war. He's also been accused of spreading myths or disinformation. What exactly has he said? The recent rhetoric coming from Washington, it coincides with Russia's rhetoric on Ukraine. And also, shall I say, it's...

factually challenged.

The latest I heard from Donald Trump is if Putin wanted, he'd get the whole country. That's also something Russian state TV has said. Some of these assertions, of course, they're not true. Things like Ukraine started this war. Well, try telling that to Ukrainians who woke up three years ago to the sound of Russian bombs dropping on their towns and cities, Russian tanks rolling down their streets.

Things like Zelensky is really unpopular, down to 4%. That's what Donald Trump said. The opinion polls that I've seen, credible opinion polls from credible opinion pollsters, they suggest that it's more than 50%. President Trump has entered into negotiations with Russia over a potential peace deal in Ukraine, but it hasn't invited Ukraine to the table.

What does President Trump expect from Russia and from Ukraine in this peace plan? He is expecting Ukraine to give America access to its vast wealth of mineral resources, particularly rare earth metals, the things that you use in making electronics,

Also, it sounds as though he wants Ukraine to just give up. He says, you started it, you should never start a debt. And he's keen for people to stop dying. And the easiest way to do that for Donald Trump is to stop supplying Ukraine with weapons because otherwise Ukraine will not be able to continue resisting. Nothing to resist Russia with. Now, when it comes to what Donald Trump wants from Russia...

Honestly, I don't know. I don't think anybody knows because what he and what his officials have been saying are basically a list of criticisms and demands directed against Ukraine. We're yet to hear anything that would describe what Donald Trump wants Vladimir Putin to do, actually. And in that criticism, he might withdraw some of America's spending on Ukraine's

defence. How important is that spending for Ukraine's war effort? It's very important. So far in the past three years, Europe and America, they've sort of given Ukraine similar amounts of money. And I mean, military assistance, financial assistance, humanitarian assistance. So they're kind of neck and neck.

If Ukraine loses America's bit of aid, that means that somebody has to fill that void because what Ukraine has been getting so far, it was barely enough to keep Ukraine fighting. If that amount, that half of the total amount of aid Ukraine's getting, if it disappears, Ukraine will find it really, really difficult to continue resisting the Russian invasion, if not impossible. Yeah.

So with that picture you have painted, as you say, the support from the US has been crucial for Ukraine's war effort. Let's pause quickly to hear what Marina, Olga and Volodymyr think about President Trump's recent comments. As a Ukrainian, I feel a deep sense of frustration when I hear President Trump's recent comments.

I think that they seem to downplay the urgency and gravity of our situation, making it feel as though our ongoing struggle is not as important on the international stage as it once was. I think that the US has always been the best representative of democracy in the whole global world. But what I can face now

since the very first day after inauguration has actually nothing in common with high democratic values, with fairness and with humanism actually. President Trump's comments have left many of us feeling uneasy. It's like when you are unsure if your friends who always had your back will show up then things get really tough.

The thought of the US pulling back support now is more than just "concerning". It feels like a possible betrayal. I'd be lying if I said his words didn't make me anxious or even scared. I don't judge the American people for their choice, but looking at what's happening at the global political stage right now, it feels like

The world just has lost its mind. Vitaly, how has President Zelensky responded to all of this? With disbelief, just like so many other Ukrainians. At one point, he said that Donald Trump inhabits a disinformation bubble created by Russia.

predictably that angered Donald Trump and he called Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator. Now the latest that we've heard from Volodymyr Zelensky is that he is prepared to step down for the sake of peace and resolving this conflict.

Importantly, both Russia and America since recently have been calling for elections to be held in Ukraine. That's why Donald Trump says Zelensky is a dictator and elections must be held because Zelensky has no mandates.

These voices calling for elections in Ukraine, they're coming from Russia and America, but not within Ukraine. The people within Ukraine, I've seen opinion polls suggesting that more than 60, I believe 63% of Ukrainians are saying, no, now is not the right time to hold elections. Because how do you hold elections when you're being bombed? How do you hold elections when more than 5 million of your citizens have fled Ukraine?

And thirdly, how do you hold elections when the country that's invading you is so adept at manipulating elections? Why is it that President Trump has not included Zelensky at the negotiating table? I think it reveals a certain worldview, a certain approach to dealing with...

with the most pressing issues, and that is to deal with it person to person, mano a mano, and handle it with Vladimir Putin, one-on-one, without involving anybody else. The problem is, for Ukrainians, I mean, it's their future, it's their lives. And when Donald Trump is so friendly towards the country that's attacked you,

That explains why Ukrainians are so downbeat. Vitaly, thank you so much for coming onto the podcast and explaining that to us. Thanks, Hannah. Thank you. Cheers. In the early hours of Monday morning, Ukraine's military said that Russia had launched nearly 200 drones across the country, including the capital Kiev.

It's a reminder that despite talk of a peace deal, this war is ongoing. So how are Ukrainians coping with it all? Marina, Olga and Volodymyr told us what they've learned over the past three years and how they keep their hope alive. This ongoing hardship has reshaped my perspective on life. I now understand that true strength isn't about denying the pain,

It's about finding the will to move forward, even when the future seems uncertain and it really is. And actually what also moves me forward is the quote "We have two lives" and the second one begins when we realize is that we have only the one. The only thing that keeps me going is the strengths of Ukrainians, their resilience, their energy.

the spirit of my country, of my homeland. My heart will always belong to my dear Kharkiv, a city that has suffered so much. But I always say as long as Kharkiv stands, I stand strong too.

This war has taught me to stop worrying about the things that don't truly matter. Because right now there is only one purpose, one belief that unites us all.

to drive the enemy out of our lands and our homes. The war has taught me the importance of living in the moment and valuing very small victory. Every single kilometer of the Ukrainian territory we are taking back to Ukrainian control reinforces our resolve. Talking about Ukrainians in general, what makes us different from other nations is that the bigger challenges we have, the better we become.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Hannah Gelbart. This is What In The World from the BBC World Service and we'll see you next time.