Key moments of the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

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

Next, a review of 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. The president claims that the purpose of the “special military operation” is the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the country to protect the ethnic Russian population, prevent Kyiv from joining NATO and keep it in “the orbit of influence” of the Kremlin. Ukraine and the West argue that this is an unlawful act of aggression against a country with a democratically elected government and a Jewish president whose relatives died in the Holocaust.

Russian troops soon reach the outskirts of kyiv, but their attempts to take the capital and other northeastern towns are met with fierce resistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy records video outside his headquarters to show he is in the country and still in charge.

MARCH

On March 2, Russia claimed control of the southern city of Kherson. In the first days of the month, Muscovite troops take the rest of the province of the same name and occupy a large part of neighboring Zaporizhia, including the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, the largest in Europe.

The Russian army is soon blocked near Kiev, and its convoys, stretching along the access highways to the capital, become easy prey for Ukrainian artillery and drones.

Moscow announces the withdrawal of its forces from Kyiv and other areas on March 29, saying it will focus on the eastern region of Donbass, the country’s industrial heartland, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting government forces since 2014, following its illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia.

APRIL

With Russia withdrawing from Kiev, hundreds of civilian bodies are ending up in mass graves or dumped on the streets of the town of Bucha, many bearing signs of torture in scenes that have world leaders saying Russia must be held responsible 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 a hundred.

Intense battles rage for the strategic port city of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov, with Russian airstrikes and artillery barrages reducing much of it to rubble.

On April 13, the Moskva, flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was hit by Ukrainian missiles and sank the next day, damaging Russian national pride.

MAYO

On May 16, the defenders of the Azovstal steel complex, the last Ukrainian stronghold of Mariupol, agree to surrender to Russian forces after nearly three months of siege. The fall of Mariupol cut off Ukraine’s access to the coast of Azov and gave Russia a land corridor from its border to Crimea.

On the 18th, Finland and Sweden submit their applications for NATO membership in another severe setback for Moscow on the expansion of the military alliance.

JUNE

Ukraine is receiving more Western weapons, including HIMARS, a multi-launch missile system, supplied by the United States.

On the 30th, Russian forces withdrew from Snake Island, off the Black Sea port city of Odessa, which had been captured at the start of the invasion.

JULIO

With the mediation of Turkey and the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement on the 22nd to release grain shipments pending in Ukrainian Black Sea ports, ending a stalemate that threatened the global food security.

On the 29th, a missile hit a prison under Russian control in the western town of Olenivka, where Ukrainian soldiers were being held captive in Mariupol, killing at least 53 people. kyiv and Moscow blame each other for the incident.

AUGUST

Powerful explosions rock an air base in Crimea on the 9th. Late this week, explosions took place at an electrical substation and ammunition depots, indicating the vulnerability of the peninsula, which Moscow has used as a main center supply during the war. Senior Ukrainian army commanders later acknowledged that the attacks were the work of Kyiv forces.

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

SEPTEMBER

On the 6th, the Ukrainian forces launched a surprise counter-offensive in the north-eastern province of Kharkiv, forcing Russia to quickly withdraw from the areas it had controlled for months.

Putin orders the mobilization of 300,000 reservists on the 21st, an unpopular move that leads hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee to neighboring countries to avoid being called up. At the same time, Moscow hastily holds illegal “referendums” in the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia to decide whether or not to join Russia. kyiv and the West call these votes a sham.

On the 30th, the Russian president signs the documents for the annexation of the four regions to the country during a ceremony in the Kremlin.

OCTOBER

On October 8, a truck loaded with explosives exploded on the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland, an attack that Putin attributed to Ukraine. Russia responds by attacking Ukrainian power plants and other infrastructure with missiles.

After the first wave on October 10, the bombardments continued steadily in the following months, causing blackouts and electricity rationing across the country.

NOVEMBER

On the 9th, Russia announced its withdrawal from the city of Jershon in the midst of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, abandoning the only provincial capital it had conquered, in a humiliating departure for the Kremlin.

DECEMBER

On December 5, the Russian military said Ukraine had used drones to attack two long-range bomber bases on Russian soil. Another similar attack occurs later in the month, signaling kyiv’s willingness to go further and exposing cracks in the Kremlin’s defenses.

On the 21st, Zelenskyy traveled to the United States on his first trip abroad since the start of the war. He is meeting with President Joe Biden to secure the shipment of Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems and other weapons, as well as to address Congress.

2023

JANUARY

Moments into the new year, dozens of newly mobilized Russian soldiers lost their lives in a Ukrainian missile attack on the town of Makiivka. According to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, 89 soldiers, but the Ukrainian authorities speak of hundreds of deaths.

After months of fierce fighting, Russia declares the capture of the salt city of Soledar on January 12, although kyiv does not recognize it until a few days later. Moscow is also advancing in its offensive for control of Bakhmut, a Ukrainian stronghold.

On January 14, in another wave of Kremlin attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the city of Dnipro, killing 45 people.