MOSCOW 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of the ongoing war between Moscow and Kyiv and pledged to "do everything to secure peace and justice" in Ukraine.

"That (the fourth anniversary) says a great deal about our resistance, about how Ukraine has fought all this time. Behind those words stand millions of our people, immense courage, incredibly hard work, endurance, and the long path Ukraine has been pursuing since February 24," Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram.

During this time, Zelenskyy said, Ukrainians have managed to defend their independence and preserve their statehood.

"We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to secure peace and justice," he said.

In a separate statement, Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said: "The Ukrainian defense industry is working to win. Technology is changing the battlefield."

"Ukraine is working for a just and sustainable peace. Not for formalities, but for results," he added.

Kyiv is hosting a number of international dignitaries for the anniversary, including European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the prime ministers of Croatia, Latvia, Estonia, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

The president of Finland, the defense minister of Lithuania, and Poland's foreign minister are also in attendance.

An online meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing" and a "Ukraine – Nordic and Baltic Countries" summit are planned. The center of Kyiv has been cordoned off since morning.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Russia's "special military operation" was a “forced step” aimed at defending the civilian population of the Donbas region, where she claimed the Ukrainian military killed 13,500 civilians by February 2022.

She said that in 2021, to avoid escalation, Russia had asked the West to provide Moscow with legal security guarantees, including regarding NATO's non-expansion eastward and the return of its military infrastructure to the configuration of 1997, but the request was ignored.

Zakharova also said that Zelenskyy's aspiration for nuclear weapons, voiced in February 2022, had provoked serious concern.

"A lasting, just, and sustainable peace is possible only on the basis of eliminating the root causes of the conflict. The current efforts of our diplomacy are subordinated to this task, including in contacts with the countries of the World Majority and within the framework of the Russian-American dialogue," she said.