A critical moment in the one-year war since Russia invaded Ukraine
The War in Ukraine The conflict, which began a year ago, has killed thousands of people, forced millions to flee their homes, reduced entire cities to rubble and raised fears that the conflict could escalate into an open conflict between Russia and NATO.
Some of the main events of the conflict at a glance.
2022
February
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiates an attack Ukraine from the north, east and south. He said the target was “special military operations”. “Demilitarization” and “Denazification” Protecting the country’s ethnic Russians, preventing Kiev’s NATO membership and keeping it in Russia’s “sphere of influence”. Ukraine and the West say it is an illegal act of aggression against a country with a democratically elected government and a Jewish president whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust.
Russian troops quickly reached the outskirts of Kiev, but their efforts to capture the capital and other cities in the northeast met stiff resistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recorded a video outside his headquarters showing that he is staying put and in charge.
march
On March 2, Russia claimed control of the southern city of Kherson. In the early days of March, Russian forces also captured the rest of the Kherson region and a large part of the neighboring Zaporizhia region, including the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.
The Russian army was soon stuck near Kiev, and its convoys – stretched along the highway leading to the Ukrainian capital – became easy prey for Ukrainian artillery and drones.
Moscow announced the withdrawal of forces from Kiev and other areas on March 29, saying it would focus on the eastern industrial heartland of Donbas, where Russian-backed separatists have battled Ukrainian forces since 2014. Illegal annexation of Crimea.
April
Reveals Russian pullback from Kyiv Hundreds of dead bodies of civilians Left in mass graves or on the streets of Bucha, many of them bear visible signs of torture that tell world leaders Russia must be held accountable for possible war crimes.
On April 9, a Russian missile attack on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk killed 52 civilians and injured more than 100.
Battles raged for the strategic port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, and Russian airstrikes and artillery bombardments reduced much of it to rubble.
On 13 April, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva, was hit by a missile from Ukraine and The next day sinks, Destroys national pride.
may
On May 16, Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol’s last remaining Ukrainian stronghold, the giant Azovstal steel mill, agreed. Surrender After about three months of siege to the Russian forces. Fall of Mariupol Cut off Ukraine from the Azov coast and secured a land corridor from the Russian border to Crimea.
On May 18, Finland and Sweden submitted their applications to join NATO in a major push for Moscow to expand the military alliance.
June
More Western weapons flow into Ukraine, including US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.
On June 30, Russian troops Return to Snake IslandLocated near the Black Sea port of Odessa and seized in the early days of the invasion.
July
On July 22, Russia and Ukraine agreed to mediation by Turkey and the United Nations in a contract to block supplies of grain stuck in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, ending a stalemate threatening global food security.
On July 29, a missile attack hit a prison in the Russian-held eastern city of Olenivka where Ukrainian soldiers held in Mariupol were being held, killing at least 53 people. Ukraine and Russia blame trade for the attacks.
August
On August 9, a powerful explosion hit an airbase in Crimea. A week later further explosions hit a power substation and ammunition depot there. A signal of weakness on the Moscow-held Black Sea peninsula that Russia has used as a major supply hub for the war. Ukraine’s top military official later admitted that the attack in Crimea was launched by Kiev’s forces.
August 20, Daria Dugina, daughter of Russian nationalist idealist Alexander Dugin, Killed in a car bomb blast Russian authorities outside of Moscow blame Ukraine.
September
On September 6, Ukrainian forces launched a surprise counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region, forcing Russia to rapidly retreat from a vast area it had held for months.
On September 21, Putin ordered the mobilization of 300,000 reservists, an unpopular move that prompted hundreds of thousands of Russian men to flee to neighboring countries to avoid conscription. At the same time, Russia hastily staged illegal “referendums” on Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions becoming part of Russia. The vote has been widely dismissed as a fraud by Ukraine and the West.
On September 30, Putin signed the document Connect the four regions At an event in the Kremlin.
October
On October 8, Putin blamed Ukraine for an attack in which a truck loaded with explosives detonated a bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland. Russia responded with missile strikes on Ukraine’s power plants and other critical infrastructure.
After the first wave of attacks on October 10, the barrage continued regularly over the following months, causing blackouts and power rationing across the country.
November
On November 9, Russia announced a Pullback from Kherson city Under a Ukrainian counterattack, Moscow abandoned the only regional center it held in a humiliating retreat for the Kremlin.
December
On December 5, the Russian military said Ukraine used drones Long-range bombers target two bases deep in Russian territory. Another strike took place later in the month, underlining Ukraine’s preparedness in the east and exposing gaps in Russian defenses.
On December 21, Zelensky visited the United States on his first foreign trip since the outbreak of war, meeting with President Joe Biden and addressing Congress to secure the Patriot air defense missile system and other weapons.
2023
January
On January 1, moments before the New Year, a Ukrainian missile attack on the town of Makivka killed several thousand newly mobilized Russian soldiers. Russia’s Defense Ministry says 89 soldiers have been killed, while Ukrainian officials put the death toll in the hundreds.
After months of fierce fighting, Russia announced its capture of the salt-mining town of Soledar on January 12, although Kiev did not acknowledge it until days later. It also exerts its offensive pressure to capture Moscow Ukrainian fortress of Bakhmut.
On January 14, as Russia launched another wave of attacks on energy facilities in Ukraine, a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the city of Dnipro, killing 45 people.
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