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Three years ago today Russia invaded the independent country of Ukraine.

The attack’s intent and the expectation of many outsiders was that the country would be subjugated in a matter of days, or at most, weeks.

Three years later, Ukraine has shown the incredible resilience of people willing to sacrifice for their country’s freedom.

The fog of war, time, elections and competing events have clouded the perceptions of some about the largest conflict on the European continent since WW II..

In this current moment of uncertainty about the war’s end, we must state the obvious: Ukraine has won. They have fought the second largest army in the world to a standstill. Their nation’s courage has earned them the respect of freedom loving people the world over.

Their determination against overwhelming odds inspires all persons yearning for freedom the will to prevail. Most importantly, Ukraine’s fight is protecting all other democracies in Europe from Russian imperialism.

Putin’s quarter century dictatorial reign is at great risk. Russia is desperate for a ceasefire. Its central bank rate is 21% and its inflation 9%. Between 900,000 and a million troops have been killed and wounded. An estimated 25 to 30 of its oil refineries have been hit and disabled. Economic change is frozen by sanctions.

And Ukraine’s democratically engaged population has shown the Russian people the need to rediscover their humanity and self-determination. The example of the Ukrainian people’s revolution is why Putin began this conflict.

Following are scenes from three years of total war showing clearly what the world understood then, and is still the reality today.

Taking a Stand: “I Am Here”

Zelensky’s words days after Russia’s direct attack on Kiev: I am here. I don’t need a ride; I need ammunition.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3cU9d9ciY4)

Moral Clarity Across the Nation

Om February 28, 2022, New York’s Metropolitan Opera opened its performance by singing Ukraine’s National Anthem. The sole person without music, hand on heart, is a Ukrainian. One of hundreds of spontaneous presentations showing the American public’s support.

(https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/us-world-show-solidarity-ukraine-83215195)

The Sacrifices

A soldier and his wife await their first child.

Citizen Soldiers

A civilian engineer builds drones for the front line.

A Shared National Anthem

Opening day at Wrigley Field, Chicago 2022.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59k-qONWAlc)

Generations Honor Each Other

Soldiers on recuperation receive sunflowers.

The National Cemetery

A Stamp Honoring Defender’s Defiance on Snake Island

An Underground School in the Kiev Metro

Overnight Destruction

A Wartime Playground

In the first days, civilians practice with wooden guns, until the real ones are available.

Citizens create a roadblock on a road that leads to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, in Enerhodar, Ukraine, March 2, 2022.

Sudden Death

– A relative knees by the body of a teenager who died in a Russian missile strike at a bus stop in Saltivka, a northern district of the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on July 20, 2022 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP) (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)

KYIV, UKRAINE – OCTOBER 17: A Ukrainian soldier rests on the sidewalk after the Russian attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine on October 17, 2022. It was reported that two separate explosions occurred in Kyiv due to the attacks carried out by the Russian forces in the early hours of the morning. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A Soldier Holds Out in the Azovstal Steel Plant

The siege of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine was a key part of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The plant was a symbol of Ukrainian resistance and the last holdout in Mariupol before the city fell to Russian forces.