Ukrainians shed tears of defiance as Russia’s invasion enters third year

Ukrainians on Saturday laid flowers to honour their dead, wept, and hoped for victory despite the war's mounting toll, as they marked two years since a full-scale Russian invasion that shows no sign of letting up. In the capital Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelenskiy led commemorative events alongside visiting foreign leaders, some feared the war would last years. In the western city of Lviv, hundreds of kilometres from the fighting, women cried as a priest led prayers in a cemetery festooned with blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags, each marking the death of a soldier.