Four Years of War Can’t Stop Ukrainians

Last Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Recently I met with a Ukrainian colleague with whom we are working to examine the impact of the conflict and the importance of the private sector – especially women-owned businesses – in peace and security. A colleague who is living the war day in and day out. And she inspired me.

As always, I was struck by the resilience of the community that my colleague described. After four years of war, Ukrainians are exhausted. They have suffered a brutal winter as Russia destroyed much of the country’s energy infrastructure, leaving millions without electricity, heat, and water, often for days at a time.

But Putin will not win, she says.

Despite the challenges – she was lucky to even have electricity that day to be able to talk to us – Ukrainians continue to go to work every day and live their lives. They have no choice.

The Human Toll of the Conflict

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, everyone predicted a rapid victory for Russia, a massive country with a much larger army and military arsenal than Ukraine. But the Ukrainians fought back valiantly and continue to do so four years later.

Russia’s war of aggression has devastated Ukraine’s infrastructure, killed thousands of civilians, and displaced more than 10 million Ukrainians. Russia has and continues to commit serious atrocities, including child abductions, torture, and sexual assault, among others. In January the UN reported that 2025 was the deadliest year for Ukraine, with 2,514 civilian fatalities.

Failed Peace Talks

Unfortunately, peace talks have thus far been unsuccessful, despite Trump’s claim that he would end the war within twenty-four hours of taking office. The major sticking points are land and security. Russia insists that Ukraine hand over four provinces and demands that Ukraine not be allowed to join NATO. The U.S. administration has largely given into Putin’s demands, proposing a 28-point plan after Trump’s November meeting with Putin in Alaska (despite the fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has a warrant out for his arrest on war crimes) that largely echoes Putin’s demands and puts the pressure for concessions on Ukraine.

To counteract that, last Tuesday Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a resolution, along with 26 cosponsors evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, to encourage strong cooperation among NATO allies and call for any negotiated agreement to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory and include Ukraine in the discussions about its future.

Now, with the conflict in the Middle East, negotiations will likely take a back seat. Ukraine has already fallen from the headlines. Such is the news cycle.

Women Play a Critical Role

As we enter Women’s History Month, examining the critical role that women play in creating sustainable peace is more important than ever.

Women are making important contributions in Ukraine. According to the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security’s Conflict Tracker, nearly 100,000 women serve in Ukraine’s army and have entered previously male-dominated sectors.

Amazingly, despite the challenges of war, women started more than half of all new businesses in 2024. Thanks to women’s efforts to document war crimes, including sexual violence, Ukraine became the first wartime country to provide interim reparations (a form of compensation for victims that does not require waiting for the aggressor country – Russia – to compensate for the damages to the people and the country it has attacked.) Women lawyers are doing important advocacy and providing critical services.

These are just a few examples.

Note: Since I started writing this piece, a new Israel – US – Iran war broke out and the Middle East is on fire. That’s a topic for another day. As I wrote after the bombing of Iran last summer, as our male leaders flex their “strongmen” muscles and continue to engage in behavior that will not bring lasting peace, one must ask, where are the women in leadership?

The Role of Law in Peace

With the breakdown of the world order and the international legal system, it’s useful to point out where the system is working, and where there is hope.

There are currently several efforts to hold Russia accountable— through sanctions, political condemnation, and ongoing legal proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court (ICC), and others.

Aggression is a war crime under international law. It is considered a “leadership crime,” meaning it is committed by individuals in positions of power who make or facilitate decisions to go to war when there is no clear and imminent threat. Genocide (the intentional destruction of a targeted group) and crimes against humanity (widespread and systematic attacks against civilian populations such as murder, torture, enslavement, and sexual violence) are also international crimes.

Putin has been indicted by the ICC as a war criminal and there is a warrant out for his arrest. Although he has not yet been captured, this has limited his freedom of movement. While Trump has welcomed Putin in the U.S., most of the world has largely shunned him.

The Council of Europe, in partnership with Ukraine, recently established a Special Tribunal to investigate, prosecute, and try individuals who bear the greatest responsibility for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which will begin work once it is fully funded.

As noted Yale University international law expert Harold Hongju Koh et al recently pointed out, the international community has made tremendous effort the past four years to build the rule of law in Ukraine, which is crucial to maintaining Ukraine’s international credibility and support.

As they also very aptly state, law and lawyers have worked—and should work in the future—to turn peace motivated by power into peace guided by law.

What Can People Do?

The current state of the world is overwhelming, so it helps to focus on specific things that people can do. International justice often faces challenges when states refuse to co-operate, but legal and political pressure can produce tangible results to ensure compliance with the law and with human rights principles.

The international community can:

• Push for accountability over power politics.
• Press the Trump administration (through talking to lawmakers and donors, public awareness raising, etc.) for peace negotiations that include women and address the impact of war on vulnerable civilian populations including women, IDPs, refugees, prisoners of war, veterans, detainees, people living in occupied territories, and those subjected to torture.
• Also push for the peace process to prioritize the return of kidnapped children and accountability for conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and other war crimes.
• Pressure the U.S. and European Union to use assets they have seized through sanctions imposed on Russia and its oligarchs to compensate Ukrainians for their losses and rebuild the country. (Trump’s 28-point plan does provide that part of seized Russian assets would be used to rebuild Ukraine.)
• Keep Ukraine in the spotlight. Talk about it. Read about it. Write about it.

And as always, it is critical that we highlight and support those who are working towards peace.