The Russia-Ukraine war is entering its fifth year this week as both sides remain locked in a grinding stalemate. What began as what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” has hardened into Europe’s largest and deadliest conflict since World War II, a protracted conflict in which neither side appears willing to give ground on the battlefield, experts say. “It’s been sort of a slow drag-out, or what many call a war of attrition,” said Peter Fraunholtz, assistant teaching professor in history and international affairs at Northeastern University, adding that it has, and will continue to be, “a very resource-intensive conflict.”
Here is a look at the war as it’s played out over four years, by the numbers.
