{"id":245591,"date":"2025-02-24T13:51:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T13:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/24\/ukraine-marks-third-anniversary-of-war-with-little-fanfare\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T13:51:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T13:51:20","slug":"ukraine-marks-third-anniversary-of-war-with-little-fanfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/24\/ukraine-marks-third-anniversary-of-war-with-little-fanfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine Marks Third Anniversary of War With Little Fanfare"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/24\/multimedia\/24ukraine-anniversary-01-zlcj\/24ukraine-anniversary-01-zlcj-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Ukraine Marks Third Anniversary of War With Little Fanfare\" title=\"Ukraine Marks Third Anniversary of War With Little Fanfare\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine set a somber tone on Monday for the third anniversary of Russia\u2019s invasion, posting <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ZelenskyyUa\/status\/1893956340441108517\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a short video<\/a> praising Ukrainians for their sacrifices and honoring those who died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">No major events were planned. For Ukrainians, it was a day to remember what was lost: loved ones and previous lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Zelensky, together with his wife and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world\/europe\/europe-ukraine-anniversary.html\" title=\"\">the visiting leaders of allied nations<\/a>, later went to Kyiv\u2019s central Maidan Square to commemorate fallen soldiers and place candles in their honor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A few blocks away, people visited a memorial wall covered in hundreds of photographs of dead soldiers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSleep in peace, boys,\u201d said Olha Vitko, 45, who said she had come that morning to see the cost the country was paying. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Denys Riapolov, 32, said he felt only \u201chorror and sorrow\u201d as he passed by the memorial wall. Mr. Riapolov, a soldier, said he was still awaiting victory over Russia \u2014 which \u201cunfortunately it will not happen soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The anniversary comes at a moment of heightened anxiety in Ukraine, as <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/19\/world\/europe\/ukraine-zelensky-trump-russia-war.html\" title=\"\">recent remarks by President Trump<\/a> \u2014 and his push to draw closer to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world\/europe\/putin-trump-russia-ukraine-war.html\" title=\"\">President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia<\/a> \u2014 have raised fears about the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Vlad Krupko, 26, a drone pilot in the Ukrainian military, said this anniversary had been the hardest for him, and urged allies not to turn away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf the world truly wants to fight for human values, for democracy, for understanding and tolerance, they have a clear example here in Ukraine where they can learn what that means,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Hamburg, Germany, Olha Shtepan, a Ukrainian refugee, started crying on her way to work at a local supermarket. \u201cIt\u2019s a wound that doesn\u2019t heal,\u201d she said of the invasion that began Feb. 24, 2022. \u201cSometimes, I manage to not think of all what has happened, but on a day like today it is terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Three years ago, when Russia attacked, Ms. Shtepan said, she was babysitting for her sister\u2019s children in Kyiv. Her own children were with her husband in Irpin, a nearby suburb that was partly occupied by Russia in the first weeks of the war. She grabbed the children and rushed to Irpin to join her family \u2014 heading into greater danger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAt that time, I did not know that we are going to hell,\u201d she said by voice message from Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After more than a week of heavy bombing, they evacuated with four children in a flow of people fleeing over the remnants of a blown-up bridge. \u201cWe were there,\u201d she said <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/09\/world\/europe\/ukraine-family-perebyinis-kyiv.html\" title=\"\">of the bridge<\/a>, which became a symbol of the suffering in the early part of the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The family left for Germany, but the pain remains. \u201cThe whole month of February for us, all Ukrainians who went through those horrors, it\u2019s a terrible month,\u201d Ms. Shtepan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Across Ukraine, there are memorials. Some, like destroyed cars of those who tried to flee that litter the countryside, remain as they did back then, a reminder of what was lost. Others are newly created, as the war continues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukraine Wow, a public organization that promotes Ukrainian culture, created a 12-foot-high animated sculpture of a heart at the central railway station in Kyiv this month. The project collects messages in memory of those who have died in war, and the heart beats faster each time one is received.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Monday afternoon, the interactive heart was steadily beating and showing tributes to the dead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMaksym Lyzya, your smile is always with us,\u201d read one message. \u201cMy dear brother Vyacheslav Makarets, 48, I am proud of you and I miss you,\u201d read another. As the heart kept beating, the messages \u2014 \u201cSofiyka Holynska, forever 6\u201d \u2014 kept coming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Nataliia Novosolova<!-- --> contributed reporting from Kyiv and <!-- -->Yurii Shyvala<!-- --> from Lviv, Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world\/europe\/ukraine-war-anniversary-zelensky.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine set a somber tone on Monday for the third anniversary of Russia\u2019s invasion, posting a short video praising Ukrainians for their sacrifices and honoring those who died. No major events were planned. For Ukrainians, it was a day to remember what was lost: loved ones and previous lives. Mr. Zelensky, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/24\/multimedia\/24ukraine-anniversary-01-zlcj\/24ukraine-anniversary-01-zlcj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1382,190640,168195,24965,202,1130,34139,3102,8774],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245593,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245591\/revisions\/245593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}