STORY: Ukraine has defended its independence since Russia's invasion and will not betray the sacrifices made by its people as it seeks peace, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address marking the fourth anniversary of the start of the war.

"Putin has not achieved his goals. He has not broken the Ukrainian people. He has not won this war," Zelenskiy said on Tuesday (February 24). "We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to achieve peace. And to ensure justice."

Zelenskiy is due to welcome dignitaries from European allies, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv later in the day for ceremonies four years on from Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides have died or been wounded in Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. Russian forces have killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and destroyed Ukrainian cities with years of missiles and drone strikes.

Ongoing peace talks with Russia, brokered by the United States, appear to have stalled over the question of territory.

Moscow, which is advancing slowly on the battlefield, has refused to drop its insistence that Ukraine cede the final 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk - while Kyiv is adamant it will not relinquish land that thousands have died to defend.

"We want peace. Strong, dignified, lasting peace," Zelenskiy said in his address.

He added that he had told Ukraine's peace negotiators: "Do not nullify all these years, do not devalue all the struggle, courage, dignity, everything that Ukraine has gone through. We cannot, we must not, give it away, forget it, betray it."

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY BUYING, LAYING FLOWERS AT MAKESHIFT MEMORIAL, COMMENTING

RESENDING WITH ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE AND SOUNDBITES

SHOWS: KYIV, UKRAINE (RELEASED ON FEBRUARY 24, 2026) (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE – Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF MAKESHIFT MEMORIAL

2. VARIOUS OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY WALKING NEAR MAKESHIFT MEMORIAL, BUYING, LAYING FLOWERS, SAYING OFF-CAMERA (Ukrainian) ‘I really want to come here with the President of the United States one day. I know for certain: only by coming to Ukraine, and seeing with one’s own eyes our life and our struggle, feeling our people and the enormity of this pain – only then can one understand what this war is really about. And because of whom, who the aggressor is here, and who must be pressured, that Ukraine defends life, fights precisely for this, and that this is not a street fight – it is an attack by a sick state on a sovereign one, and that Putin is this war. He is the cause of its beginning and the obstacle to its end. And it is Russia that must be put in its place. So that there can be real peace.’

3. SAID TO BE UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT BUNKER CORRIDOR, SIGN READING 'Office of the President of Ukraine'

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING:

"Today marks exactly four years since Putin started his three-day push to take Kyiv. And that, in fact, says a great deal about our resistance, about how Ukraine has fought all this time. Behind those words stand millions of our people. Behind those words stand immense courage, incredibly hard work, endurance, and the long path Ukraine has been pursuing since February 24."

5. SAID TO BE UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT BUNKER CORRIDOR, ZELENSKIY SAYING OFF-CAMERA "And even in this long tunnel, you couldn’t fit a millionth of the pain Ukraine has endured during this time. The pain Russia brought to each of our families, to every Ukrainian heart."

6. VARIOUS OF ZELENSKIY WALKING OUT OF BUNKER, SAYING OFF-CAMERA "Ukrainians have turned their own rage into energy for the fight and have proven: we can be forced into shelters, but it is impossible to drive Ukraine underground forever. We inevitably rise, we return, we continue to fight – because we fight for life. For the right to stand on our land – and to breathe our own air."

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING:

"We will do more, because Russia does not stop, unfortunately, and wages war by every method – against peace, against us, against people. Putin understands he is not capable of defeating Ukraine on the battlefield, and the “second army in the world” is fighting against apartment buildings and power plants. And now Ukrainians are enduring the hardest winter in history. And terror almost every night. I do not know who else could withstand this without collapsing or wavering. Ukrainians are doing it."

8. (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF SAINT SOPHIA CATHEDRAL

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING:

"Of course, we all want the war to end. But no one will allow Ukraine to end. We want peace. Strong, dignified, lasting. And before each round of negotiations, I give our team very clear directives. They always come in classified decrees, but I will certainly not reveal a state secret if I share my main message: not to nullify all these years, not to devalue – the entire struggle, the courage, the dignity, everything Ukraine has gone through."

10. (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF SAINT SOPHIA CATHEDRAL

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING:

"History is watching us closely. The agreement must not simply be signed – it must be accepted, accepted by Ukrainians."

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING:

"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. Ukraine exists not just on the map. Ukraine is an actor in international relations. Our capital stands, and so do Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kramatorsk, Odesa, Lviv. Other cities."

13. WHITE FLASH

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING:

"Putin has not achieved his goals. He has not broken Ukrainians. He has not won this war. We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to secure peace and justice."