Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking from Kyiv on February 25, 2022. 

February 21, 2026

On the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s illegal February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, we have a retrospective of Policy coverage — a timeline of pieces from among the many excellent ones filed on Ukraine in the past four years.

First off, our newly posted pieces marking this year’s anniversary:

From McGill University Ukraine expert and Policy Columnist Maria Popova: 

Ukraine Four Years On: A Lesson in Resistance for the World.

From former United Nations Ambassador and Policy Columnist Bob Rae:

In Ukraine, the Battle of Truth vs. Myth has Already Been Won.

From former Canadian Ambassador to Russia and Policy Columnist Jeremy Kinsman:

Ukraine has Won by Not losing, Putin has Lost by Not Winning.

Since last year’s third anniversary:

In the past year, we’ve enhanced our insight and analysis on the war in Ukraine by welcoming McGill University political scientist and Ukraine and Russia expert Maria Popova to our roster of Policy columnists. Popova’s outstanding commentary on Ukraine’s resilience against malignant New World Order aggression can be found here in her own columns, and in the pieces she’s co-authored with PhD candidate Anastasia Leshchyshyn, here.

We’ve been honoured to welcome former United Nations Ambassador Bob Rae as a columnist after his five years as a Policy contributing writer from the UN, where he fought relentlessly for the rights of Ukrainians in upholding Canada’s pro-Ukraine position on the conflict. From November 2025 by Bob Rae on the Ukraine war and the Trump administration’s coercive diplomacy: The Devil is Alive and Well in the Details of the US/Russia Deal.

We’ve also benefited tremendously on this story from the expertise and perspective of Russia expert Fritz Lodge at The Scowcroft Group in Washington, including, from September, Lodge’s must-read Letter from Washington: Demystifying the Myth of Russian Inevitability. You can find all our TSG Letter from Washington and Scowcroft Group Snapshot posts at Policy Insights from The Scowcroft Group.

Over the four years since Vladimir Putin defied all efforts at diplomacy and unlawfully invaded his democratic neighbour, longtime Policy contributing writer and former Canadian Ambassador to Russia Jeremy Kinsman, who met Putin in 1995 when the former KGB agent was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, has provided indispensable perspective and unique insight on the deadlock. You can find all of Kinsman’s columns and analysis pieces at his author page. From March 2025, here’s Trump, Ukraine, and the New World Order.

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Looking back to Day One of the war, a piece filed by longtime Policy contributing writer, Pendulum Group founding partner and former president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Yaroslav Baran, hours after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine and the bombing of Kyiv began. From February 24th, 2022, here’s Vladimir Putin, History’s Latest Chaos Actor. From Jeremy Kinsman, who also filed on the first day of the war, here’s Putin’s Fateful War of Choice. On Russia’s geopolitical casus belli from Policy Editor Lisa Van Dusen on April 11th, 2022, Lavrov’s Rare Truth About Russia’s Global Motives.

Ambassador Bob Rae addressing the UN on March 24, 2022/Sophie Galarneau, Canadian UN Mission 

From then United Nations Ambassador Bob Rae on April 26, 2022, Putin’s War: Truth and Consequences. From then-Ambassador to Ukraine Larisa Galadza filing from Kyiv on December 22, 2022, Dispatch from a Wartime Ambassador.

From February 2023, our Ukraine: One Year Later package, with pieces from Bob Rae, Yaroslav Baran, Jeremy Kinsman and former NATO Ambassador Kerry Buck.

NDP MP Heather McPherson in Irpin, Ukraine

From NDP MP Heather McPherson, filing from Ukraine on March 13, 2023, her Policy Dispatch, Witnessing the Indestructible Spirit of Ukraine.

Ukraine Foreign Minster Dmytro Kuleba with Anastasiya Ringis

From October, 2023, our Policy Ukraine Series: Yaroslav Baran’s Q&A with Ukraine Ambassador to Canada Yulia Kovaliv; Anastasiya Ringis with Forged in the Maidan and Facing West: Ukraine’s New Generation of Leaders; Canadian diplomat Ashley Mulroney with Notes from a Wartime Posting: The Hardest Part Was Leaving Ukraine; Colin Robertson with Ukraine, Canada and the Call of History.

Sarah Taylor facing police at Navalny’s funeral

From February 16th, 2024, Jeremy Kinsman’s piece filed hours after Alexei Navalny’s murder — which is also about Ukraine — Navalny is Now Immortal, and Putin Has Never Been Weaker. From March 15th, 2024, current Canadian Ambassador to Russia Sarah Taylor with Grief as Defiance: How Muscovites Mourned Navalny. In Policy Book Reviews from November 12, 2024, Jeremy Kinsman’s review of Navalny’s posthumously published memoir, A Legacy of Truth: Alexei Navalny’s Final Act of Patriotism.

Oleksandra Matviichuk/Center for Civil Liberties

And, we close with a key piece from may 31st, 2024, our Policy Q&A: Nobel Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk on Ukraine, Human Rights and Winning the War, brilliantly done by Anastasiya Ringis.

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