Today at 13:26
Three years ago, on February 24, 2022, at around 3:40 AM, the first column of Russian tanks entered the Luhansk region, and Ukraine itself trembled from the first enemy missiles striking its territory.
As reported by Ukrinform, over three years of full-scale war, Ukraine has inflicted significant losses on Russia in both personnel and military equipment.
The total combat losses of Russian troops in Ukraine from February 24, 2022, to February 24, 2025, amount to approximately 868,230 personnel.
Additionally, the Defense Forces have destroyed:
- 10,177 Russian tanks,
- 21,157 armored combat vehicles,
- 23,626 artillery systems,
- 1,299 MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems),
- 1,081 air defense systems,
- 370 aircraft,
- 331 helicopters,
- 26,645 operational-tactical UAVs,
- 3,064 cruise missiles,
- 28 ships/boats,
- 1 submarine,
- 38,444 vehicles and fuel tankers,
- 3,757 units of special equipment.
It is also worth noting that in August 2024, Ukraine’s Defense Forces launched an operation in Russia’s Kursk region. At that time, approximately 11,000 Russian troops, mostly conscripts, were stationed there. The peak control area of Ukraine’s Defense Forces in Kursk region during the operation reached 1,300 square kilometers. According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, as of February 14, 2025, the total Russian losses in the Kursk region exceeded 48,000 personnel, with about 20,000 of them killed.
At the same time, during the years of war, according to ISW estimates, Russian forces have occupied approximately 99% of the Luhansk region, 66% of the Donetsk region, and 73% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
Meanwhile, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, tens of thousands are missing, and around 380,000 have been wounded.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, as a result of Russia’s full-scale armed aggression in Ukraine, 599 children have died, and more than 1,762 have been injured to varying degrees. Additionally, according to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, as of November last year, Russia has deported or forcibly relocated 19,546 Ukrainian children since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. However, more than 1,000 children have been successfully returned.
According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has conducted 75 repatriation operations and returned 7,017 bodies of fallen defenders. Additionally, 4,131 Ukrainian prisoners have been brought home as part of 61 prisoner exchanges. Among them, 3,958 were servicemen (3,749 men and 209 women), while 173 were civilians (130 men and 43 women).
World Leaders to Visit Ukraine on the Third Anniversary
This year, on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, as in previous years, leaders of Ukraine’s partner states plan to visit the country. On Monday, the leadership of the European Union will arrive in Kyiv, including European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Additionally, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have announced their intention to visit Ukraine on this day.
According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the invasion, a delegation of European commissioners will arrive in Ukraine to discuss cooperation in security and defense, strengthening sanctions against Russia, and Ukraine’s integration into the EU.
As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced at the Munich Security Conference, Ukraine is preparing a February 24 meeting of partner country leaders in Kyiv to discuss peace, security guarantees, and the future of collective security.
Read also: Main points from President Zelenskyy’s press conference
