New Delhi: One year ago, Russia sent its troops to invade Ukraine. The conflict, which marks one-year this week, killed thousands of people, displaced millions, reduced entire cities to rubble, and fanned worries that the war might escalate into an open conflict between Russia and NATO.
Expressing solidarity with Ukrainians as Russia's invasion of their country steps into a second year, Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and announced half a billion dollars of additional assistance to Ukraine on February 20.
"One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands," Biden said.
Despite superiority in numbers, Russian troops have been defeated a number of times since the war began, although they still control about one-fifth of Ukraine.
A look at some of the major events in the conflict-
February
Russian President Vladimir Putin launches an invasion of Ukraine from the north, east, and south on February 24. According to Putin, the “special military operation” was aimed at the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine to protect ethnic Russians, prevent Kyiv’s NATO membership, and keep it in Russia’s “sphere of influence.”
Ukraine and the West call the attack an unlawful act of aggression against a country with a democratically elected government and a Jewish president whose family was killed in the Holocaust.
Russian forces reach Kyiv’s outskirts, but their attempts to capture the capital and other cities in the northeast are met with stiff resistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy records a video outside his headquarters to show he is staying and remains in charge.
March
Russia claims control of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on March 2. “The Russian divisions of the armed forces have taken the regional centre of Kherson under full control,” says defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in a televised address.
In the early days of March, Russian forces also conquer the rest of the Kherson area and control a major portion of the nearby Zaporizhzhia region, including Europe's biggest nuclear power plant.
The Russian army soon gets stuck near Kyiv, and its convoys become easy prey for Ukrainian artillery and drones.
On March 16, Russia hits a theatre in the strategic port city of Mariupol where civilians had sought refuge, killing hundreds in one of the war's worst attacks.
On March 29, Moscow announces the withdrawal of forces from Kyiv and other areas, stating that it will focus on the eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas, where Russia-backed rebels have fought Ukrainian forces since 2014 following the illegal annexation of Crimea.
April
The Russian forces' pullback from Kyiv reveals hundreds of bodies of civilians in mass graves or left in the streets of the town of Bucha, many of them bearing signs of torture in scenes that prompt world leaders to say Russia should be held accountable for possible war crimes.
A Russian missile strikes on a railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on April 9, killing 52 people, including women and children, and wounding more than 100.
In the Sea of Azov, intense battles rage for Mariupol, and Russian air strikes and artillery bombardment reduce most of it to rubble.
On April 13, the missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, is hit by Ukrainian missiles and sinks the next day.
May
After a nearly three-month siege, the Ukrainian defenders of the massive Azovstal steel mill, the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol, agree to surrender to Russian forces on May 16.
The loss of Mariupol isolates Ukraine from the Azov coast and secures a land corridor from the Russian border to Crimea.
On May 18, Finland and Sweden submit their applications to join NATO in a major blow to Moscow over the expansion of the military alliance.
June
Additional Western weapons flow into Ukraine, including HIMARS multiple rocket launchers supplied by the United States.
On June 30, Russian soldiers withdraw from Snake Island, located off the Black Sea town of Odesa and occupied in the early days of the invasion.
July
On July 22, Russia and Ukraine reach an agreement, with mediation by Turkey and the United Nations, to unlock grain shipments stuck in Ukraine's Black Sea ports, resolving a standoff that threatened global food security.
On July 29, a missile strike hits a prison in the Russia-controlled eastern town of Olenivka where Ukrainian soldiers captured in Mariupol were held, killing at least 53. Ukraine and Russia trade blame for the attack.
August
On August 9, powerful explosions strike an air base in Crimea. A week later, more blasts hit a power substation and ammunition depots.
Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian nationalist ideologist Alexander Dugin, dies in a car bomb explosion outside Moscow on August 20, that the Russian authorities blame on Ukraine.
September
On September 6, Ukrainian forces launch an unexpected counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region, prompting Russia to retreat from broad areas held for months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin orders a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists on September 21, a move that prompts Russian men to flee to neighboring countries to avoid recruitment. At the same time, Russia hastily stages illegal “referendums” in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions on whether to become part of Russia. The votes are widely dismissed as a sham by Ukraine and the West.
Putin signs documents to annex the four regions at a Kremlin ceremony on September 30.
October
On October 8, a truck laden with explosives blows up on the bridge linking Crimea to Russia’s mainland in an attack that Putin blames on Ukraine. In retaliation, Russia launches missile attacks on Ukraine’s power plants and other key infrastructure.
After the first wave of attacks on October 10, the barrage continues on a regular basis in the months that follow, resulting in blackouts and power rationing across the country.
November
On November 9, Russia declares its withdrawal from the city of Kherson under a Ukrainian counteroffensive, abandoning the only regional center Moscow captured
December
On December 5, the Russian military claims that Ukraine employed drones to strike two bases for long-range bombers located deep within Russian territory.
Later in the month, another strike takes place highlighting Ukraine's readiness to up the ante and revealing gaps in Russian defenses.
On December 21, Zelenskyy visits the United States on his first trip abroad since the war began and meets his US counterpart Joe Biden to secure Patriot air defense missile systems and other weapons and address Congress.
January 2023
On January 1, Ukrainian missile strikes on the city of Makiivka, killing scores of freshly mobilized Russian soldiers. Russia’s Defense Ministry says 89 troops were killed, while Ukrainian officials put the death toll in the hundreds.
Russia declares the capture of the salt-mining town of Soledar on January 12 after months of ferocious fighting, although Kyiv does not acknowledge it until days later. Moreover, Moscow also presses its offensive to seize the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut.
On January 14, when Russia launches another wave of strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities, a Russian missile hits an apartment building in the city of Dnipro, killing 45.
February 2023
On February 20, US President Joe Biden visits Kyiv ahead of the Russia-Ukraine conflict anniversary. Biden announces an aid package for Ukraine worth $500 million that would include artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems, air surveillance radars, more javelins, and howitzers. "We will announce $500 million in aid to Ukraine. This will consist of javelins, howitzers, and artillery ammunition," says Biden.
A day after Biden's secret visit to Ukraine, on February 21, Vladimir Putin gives a speech at the parliament blaming the West for "unleashing the war", while saying that Moscow "used force to contain it".
