Russia's war in Ukraine passed the four-year mark on Tuesday. It's difficult to remember now that in the early days of the invasion, many people expected Ukraine to fall quickly after a heroic but hopeless battle in which its defenders were vastly outnumbered and outgunned.

What followed instead was a grueling fight in which the fortunes of war shifted several times: early Russian gains were followed by an impressive Ukrainian counteroffensive in the fall of 2022, then a shift in Russia's favor in 2023-24, then a stalemate. Most recently, Ukraine seems to have regained the momentum. The ongoing peace talks often seem meaningless, and no end to the war is in sight.

The Ukrainian people are still surviving unthinkable hardships. Yet, in an important sense, Ukraine has won and Russia has lost.

Ukraine has won simply by surviving as a sovereign state against impossible odds. Even if Kyiv is pressured into surrendering all of Donetsk........

© Newsday