Nobody believed that Putin would invade Ukraine. Four years on, has Europe learned from the failures of 2022?

"Around 9pm the evening before, I had received a message from a colleague at another news outlet. It was an unequivocal warning from an intelligence source that the war would start that night. We discussed it among the Guardian's Ukraine reporting team and international editors. My colleague Emma Graham-Harrison, who was on an overnight train from Kyiv towards the frontline city of Mariupol, decided she would get off halfway, in the middle of the night, and beg a spot on the first train heading back to Kyiv."

"Four years later, millions of Ukrainians have been forced to adapt to the grim reality of living in a war zone. They have been through the withdrawal of Russian forces from Kyiv and the atrocities they left in their wake, the euphoria of the liberation of Kherson and other cities, which soon settled into the kind of grinding attritional war we see today."

"On this fourth anniversary, many worry that Donald Trump's negotiations will lead nowhere and the war will continue for months or years to come. Back in those first days, war was a terrifying and unpredictable new world. My memories of the maelstrom at Kyiv's train station, as thousands of people tried to flee amid fears the Russians would soon arrive, will stay with me forever."

February 24, 2022 marked Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, fundamentally altering the nation's fate and European history. A Guardian journalist received advance warning from intelligence sources the evening before the invasion began. The reporting team made critical decisions, including repositioning correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison away from Mariupol, which soon fell under siege. Over four years, Ukrainians have endured Russian attacks on Kyiv, witnessed liberation of cities like Kherson, and adapted to prolonged attritional warfare. The conflict has created profound human experiences, from chaotic evacuations at train stations to civilians sheltering in homes. As the fourth anniversary approaches, concerns persist about potential Trump-led negotiations and the possibility of extended conflict lasting months or years.

Read at www.theguardian.com