Many have described the war in Ukraine as a war of attrition; Ukraine’s former foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has called it a “war of hope.” Both descriptions carry truth. But consider the numbers: after more than a million Russian casualties and fatalities, Moscow has gained only about one percent more territory than it controlled at the outset. It is an almost absurd calculus of devastation.

Three and a half years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we have crossed a grim and revealing milestone. The war has now lasted longer than the Soviet Union’s own Second World War experience – the so-called Great Patriotic War, which cost 26 million Soviet lives. That comparison is not about equating conflicts; it is a reminder of the sheer duration and weight of the present war, and how deeply it has already reshaped the global security landscape.

What stays with me most from those early months is the extraordinary, heroic defence mounted by Ukrainians – how they shattered Moscow’s expectation that Kyiv would fall in days. That moment was marked by a wave of solidarity, blue-and-yellow flags in windows, and a sense that the democratic world was united. But over time, even war becomes normalized, at least for those far away.

For Ukrainians, nothing is normal. “Normal” is sleeping in subway stations. “Normal” is enduring hours-long bombardments of major cities like Kyiv........

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