A Ukrainian soldier from the 68th Fighter Brigade OleksaDovbush drives an M113 armored personnel carrier towards frontline positions, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, near Vuhledar, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Evgeny Maloletka)

The war in Ukraine that began a year ago has killed thousands, forced millions to flee their homes, reduced entire cities to rubble and raised fears that the confrontation could escalate into open conflict between Russia and NATO. .

Here are some of the major events of the war.

2022

FEBRUARY

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launches an invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south. He assures that the “special military operation” aims at the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the country to protect the Russian ethnic groups, prevent Kiev from becoming a member of NATO and keep it in the “sphere of influence” of the Russia. Ukraine and the West say this is an unlawful act of aggression against a country with a democratically elected government and a Jewish president whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust.

Russian forces quickly reached the outskirts of kyiv, but their attempts to seize the capital and other northeastern towns were met with stiff resistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy records a video outside his headquarters to show that he remains in the country and is still in charge.

MARCH

On March 2, Russia declared control of the southern city of Kherson. In the first days of the month, Russian forces also seized the rest of the Kherson region and invaded a large area of ​​the neighboring Zaporizhia region, including the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.

Soon the Russian army is bogged down near Kiev, and its convoys – occupying the highways leading to the Ukrainian capital – become easy prey for Ukrainian artillery and drones. On March 16, Russia attacks a theater in the strategic port city of Mariupol, where civilians were sheltering, killing hundreds in one of the deadliest attacks of the war.

Moscow announces it is withdrawing its forces from Kyiv and other areas on March 29, saying it will focus its offensive on the eastern industrial hub of Donbass, where Russian-backed separatists have clashed with Ukrainian forces since 2014 in following the illegal annexation of Crimea by Moscow. .

APRIL

Russia’s withdrawal from Kyiv reveals there are hundreds of corpses of civilians in mass graves or abandoned on the streets of Bucha town, many showing signs of torture in scenes motivating world leaders to say that he must hold Russia 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.

Intense battles rage in the Sea of ​​Azov for control of Mariupol, and Russian airstrikes and artillery shells reduce it to many ruins.

On April 13, Ukrainian missiles hit the missile cruiser Moskva, flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, and it sank the next day, dealing a blow to national pride.

MAYO

On May 16, the Ukrainian defenders of the massive Azovstal steelworks, the last Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol, agree to surrender to Russian forces after a siege of nearly three months. The fall of Mariupol leaves Ukraine without an outlet to the Sea of ​​Azov and secures a land corridor from the Russian border to Crimea.

On May 18, Finland and Sweden submit their application for NATO membership in a blow to Moscow over the expansion of the military alliance.

JUNE

More and more Western weapons are flowing into Ukraine, including HIMARS multiple missile launchers, which are being sent by the United States.

On June 30, Russian forces withdrew from Snake Island, located off the Black Sea port of Odessa, which they had captured in the early days of the invasion.

JULIO

On July 22, Russia and Ukraine, mediated by Turkey and the United Nations, reach an agreement to release grain supplies blocked in Ukrainian Black Sea ports, ending a global food stalemate.

On July 29, a missile hit a prison in the Russian-controlled eastern town of Olenivka, where Ukrainian soldiers captured in Mariupol were being held, killing at least 53 people. kyiv and Moscow blame each other for the attack.

AUGUST

On August 9, powerful explosions hit an airbase in Crimea. Further blasts hit an electrical substation and ammunition warehouses on site a week later, underscoring the vulnerability of the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed and used as a supply hub during the war. Subsequently, Ukraine’s top military official acknowledged that the attacks in Crimea were the work of Kyiv forces.

On August 20, Darya Dugina, daughter of Russian nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed in a car bomb on the outskirts of Moscow. Russian authorities blame Ukraine.

SEPTEMBER

On September 6, Ukrainian forces launched a surprise counter-offensive in the area northeast of Kharkov, forcing Russia to quickly withdraw from large areas it had controlled for months.

On September 21, Putin orders the mobilization of 300,000 reservists, an unpopular decision that drives hundreds of thousands of Russian men to flee to neighboring countries to avoid being drafted. At the same time, Moscow hastily holds illegal “referendums” in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia to ask if they want to be part of Russia. Ukraine and the West reject the votes, claiming it is a farce.

On September 30, Putin signs documents to annex the four regions during a ceremony in the Kremlin.

OCTOBER

On October 8, a truck loaded with explosives exploded on the bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia, during an attack that Putin blamed on Ukraine. Moscow responds with missile attacks on Ukrainian power plants and other key infrastructure.

After the first wave of attacks on October 10, the artillery offensive continued in the following months, leading to blackouts and electricity rationing across the country.

NOVEMBER

On November 9, Russia announces that it is withdrawing from the city of Kherson, as part of a Ukrainian counter-offensive, and thus abandons the only regional center that Moscow has captured, in a humiliating withdrawal for the Kremlin.

DECEMBER

On December 5, the Russian military said Ukraine had used drones to attack two bases in long-range bombings deep within Russian territory. Another attack is carried out later that month, showing that kyiv is ready to go higher and revealing cracks in the Russian defenses.

On December 21, Zelenskyy travels to the United States on his first foreign trip since the start of the war, meeting with President Joe Biden to secure the delivery of Patriot air defense missile systems and other weapons. He also speaks before Congress.

2023

JANUARY

On January 1, just at the start of the New Year, a group of newly deployed Russian soldiers are killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on the town of Makeyevka. The Russian Defense Ministry says 89 soldiers were killed, but Ukrainian officials say hundreds were killed.

After months of intense fighting, Russia declares the capture of the town of Soledar on January 12, where there is a major salt-mining industry, although Kiev does not recognize it until a few days later. Moscow is also stepping up its offensive to capture the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut.

On January 14, as Russia launches a new wave of attacks on Ukrainian power installations, a Russian missile hits an apartment building in the city of Dnipro, killing 45 people.

FEBRUARY

On February 20, Biden makes a surprise visit to Kyiv, meeting with the Ukrainian president in a remarkable and provocative show of solidarity.

Categorized in:

Tagged in:

, , , ,