February 2026 marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 — and fourteen years since the aggression against Ukraine began in February 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and the outbreak of armed conflict in the east. While the war’s roots stretch back more than a decade, the devastation inflicted during the past four years alone has been staggering. Even if we consider only the casualties, displacement, and destruction recorded since 2022, the scale of suffering is horrifying and continues to deepen.
Thousands of civilians have been killed. Millions of women and families have been displaced from their homes, while millions more remain in damaged towns and cities where access to heating, electricity, clean water, healthcare, education, and employment is fragile or severely restricted. These conditions represent more than wartime hardship; they reflect the sustained denial of basic rights — the right to life, security, health, shelter, and dignity.
The human toll has deepened with time. In 2025, civilian casualties reached their highest level since the invasion began. According to confirmed United Nations data, more than 5,000 women and girls have been killed and nearly 14,000 injured since the onset of the war — figures that likely underestimate the true scale of loss. Each number represents a life interrupted, a family shattered, and a community forever changed.
Against this backdrop of devastation, women have continued to hold communities together. They have stepped into leadership roles, sustained local economies, provided humanitarian assistance, and served on the front lines. Yet resilience has limits. As the war stretches on, funding cuts and ongoing attacks on infrastructure threaten not only survival but also the protection of rights that must not be allowed to disappear in the shadow of conflict.