With the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since the end of World War II now in its fourth year, the scale of the devastation wreaked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues to mount.

The front line is a place of ghastly violence where hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded, according to conservative Western estimates. The list of Ukrainian cities and towns largely leveled to the ground by Russian bombs and artillery grows with each passing month.

Russian forces have moved forward in small increments, sustaining a staggering number of casualties to take cities like Avdiivka, which they captured last year. Ukraine has been able to slow the advance by committing some of its limited reserves to counterattacks, including into the western Russian region of Kursk in a surprise assault, and in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in recent weeks.

President Trump has recently signaled a thawing relationship between the United States and Russia, in what he characterized as the beginning of a negotiation to end the war. That has raised concerns he could favor Russia in a peace deal while leaving Ukraine on the sidelines.

Negotiations to end the war will shape the future of Ukraine, and the recent developments mean some of its territory is likely to remain under Russian occupation.

Away from the front, millions of Ukrainians have spent hours in bomb shelters as Russia rains down missiles and drones on military units and civilians across the nation. Ukraine’s energy grid, severely damaged, is working but sporadically. Thousands of schools, hospitals and cultural institutions have been damaged or destroyed. Millions of people have lost their homes.

For all that time, photographers with The New York Times and other news organizations have chronicled the war, capturing a slice of how soldiers and civilians have experienced it. Some images, our photographers say, will never leave them.

This gallery contains graphic images.