No end in sight. Images from Russia’s cruel and pointless two-year war in Ukraine

The aftermath of the missile strike in Kyiv on 2 January 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/OLEG PETRASYUK

Today, Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its tragic third year. Since 24 February 2022, millions of refugees have been forced to flee for their lives, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed, entire cities have been razed to the ground, and the country’s wildlife has been decimated.

The same destructive cycle has continued unbroken for two years with no end in sight, and as the US and EU look increasingly hamstrung by domestic political concerns, their once iron-clad financial and military commitment to Kyiv looks to be on the verge of collapse, even if the words of support and photo opportunities continue.

Novaya Gazeta Europe looks back at the key images of the war so far and the tragic toll it has taken on Ukrainians fighting for their right to exist.

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, forcing thousands of civilians to evacuate. Photo: People gather at the main train station in Kyiv attempting to flee on 4 March 2022. EPA-EFE/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

Towns in the Kyiv region, among them Bucha and Irpin, were heavily hit as Russian troops advanced on Kyiv, then still hoping to take it in three days. Photo: Refugees flee the town of Irpin over a collapsed bridge in March 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/ROMAN PILIPEY

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, was another main target of Russia’s invasion, and in March 2022, local authorities announced that at least 500 civilians had been killed in Russian attacks on residential and public buildings. Photo: Andrea Carrubba / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

Despite the initial plans to “take Kyiv in three days”, Russian troops were forced to retreat from the Kyiv region, leaving evidence of war crimes in their wake. Photos of the civilians killed by Russian troops in the town of Bucha shocked the world in early April 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/ROMAN PILIPEY

The four-month Russian siege of Mariupol in spring 2022 claimed thousands of lives before ending on 20 May 2022 as Russian troops finally captured the ruins of the city. The attack on the Mariupol Drama Theatre killed hundreds of sheltering civilians and has been classified by Amnesty International as a war crime. Photo: Anatoly Zhdanov / Kommersant / Sipa USA / Vida Press

Numbers mark the graves of unidentified local civilians who were killed during fighting in Mariupol. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEI ILNITSKY

Photo: A grieving mother hugs the coffin of a Ukrainian serviceman killed in action. EPA-EFE/MYKOLA TYS

“Every day, Russia destroys the civilian population, kills Ukrainian children, directs rockets at civilian targets,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote following the Russian attack on the city of Vinnytsia in July 2022, which killed 28 people, including three children. Photo: EPA-EFE/ROMAN PILIPEY

On 8 October 2022, a massive blast killed three people and caused severe damage to the Crimean Bridge, a Russian prestige project that connects Russia to occupied Crimea. The Security Service of Ukraine later claimed responsibility for the attack. Photo: Vera Katkova/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The autumn of 2022 marked a turning point in the war, as Ukraine staged a stunningly successful counteroffensive in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions, forcing Russian troops to withdraw. Photo: the city of Izium after being recaptured by Ukraine. EPA-EFE/SERGEY KOZLOV

The Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kherson region forced Russian troops to retreat from the city, clearing the way for Ukrainian troops to liberate the city in November 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/IVAN ANTYPENKO

A missile strike on a Russian military camp in the Donetsk region town of Makiivka in December 2022 killed 89 people according to the Russian Defence Ministry, while the Armed Forces of Ukraine put the death toll at 400. Photo: Vladimir Aleksandrov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Russian attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine have been a constant of the war. A missile strike on a residential building in Dnipro in January 2023 killed 46 people and injured at least 80. Photo: EPA-EFE/STR

The Battle of Bakhmut, which went on from August 2022 until May 2023, finally ended with Russian forces taking control of the city, which by then had been almost entirely reduced to rubble. An aerial view of Bakhmut in June 2023. Photo: Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images

The war reached the Russian border region of Belgorod in June 2023, when two pro-Ukrainian armed groups, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Free Russia Legion, carried out a cross-border attack killing 13 local residents and injuring two others. Photo: Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam caused mass flooding along the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, causing thousands of people to lose their homes. The exact death toll is unknown, as parts of the flooded area are occupied by the Russian forces, but at least 58 people were reported dead. Photo: EPA-EFE/MYKOLA TYMCHENKO

A Russian missile attack on a Kramatorsk restaurant in June 2023 killed 13 people and injured 61. Photo: Ukrainian firemen working to recover the remaining bodies from under the rubble. Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The aftermath of a rocket attack on Kharkiv, October 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/YAKIV LYASHENKO

A woman touches the portrait of a loved one at the Memory Wall commemorating fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, 14 March 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

A father mourns for his son, who was killed in the war, Kyiv, 25 August 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/CATHAL MCNAUGHTON

The Russian missile strike on the Drama Theatre in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, killed seven people and injured 110 in August 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/OLEG PETRASYUK

At least three people were killed by rocket fragments hitting a high-rise building in Kyiv on 24 June 2023 as Russia fired 43 missiles at the Ukrainian capital. All of them were shot down. Photo: EPA-EFE/OLEG PETRASYUK

Ukrainians in Lviv carry a national flag signed by then-AFU Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi and 1,447 other Ukrainian soldiers, January 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/MYKOLA TYS

A local man looks out from the ruins of his apartment in a residential building damaged by Russian shelling, Kyiv, 5 January 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

Twenty-five people were killed in the shelling of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk on 21 January 2024. Photo: A woman stands among the covered bodies of those killed in the attack on a Donetsk food market. EPA-EFE/ALESSANDRO GUERRA

Another rocket attack on Kharkiv on 10 January 2024 killed at least 10 people. Photo: An injured woman in the aftermath of the attack. EPA-EFE/SERGEY KOZLOV

A drone strike on an oil depot in Kharkiv killed at least seven people on 10 February 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/YAKIV LIASHENKO

The ruins of Avdiivka, a town in eastern Ukraine finally captured by Russian troops earlier in February after months of fighting. Photo: Konstantin Liberov / Libkos / Getty Images

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