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See Also
See Again
© Getty Images
0 / 60 Fotos
February 24, 2022
- Russia invades Ukraine. The evacuation of the Ukrainian population effectively begins on the same day. Here, a child sits in a refugee bus in the city of Lysychansk.
© Getty Images
1 / 60 Fotos
February 26, 2022
- Tens of thousands of Russian troops pour into northern Ukraine in an attempt to take the capital Kyiv and overthrow the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The city is bombed relentlessly, resulting in numerous civilian casualties.
© Getty Images
2 / 60 Fotos
February 27, 2022
- The world protests Vladimir Putin's indiscriminate and unjustified act of aggression. Demonstrations take place in major cities around the globe, including London where thousands of Ukrainians and their supporters gather at Trafalgar Square.
© Getty Images
3 / 60 Fotos
February 28, 2022
- Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, is also attacked. This photograph shows a view of a school destroyed by Russian aerial bombardment.
© Getty Images
4 / 60 Fotos
March 1, 2022
- President Zelenskyy (seen on screen) gives a live video address during a special plenary session of the European Parliament focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the EU headquarters in Brussels.
© Getty Images
5 / 60 Fotos
March 7, 2022
- Evacuees cross a destroyed bridge as they flee the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv. Ukraine dismisses Moscow's cynical offer to set up humanitarian corridors from several bombarded cities after it emerges some routes would lead refugees into Russia or Belarus.
© Getty Images
6 / 60 Fotos
March 7, 2022
- A resident uses a dustpan and broom (top) to clear the debris from an apartment as another looks out of the destroyed front of a room in a multi-story building in Kramatorsk, badly damaged as a result of a Russian missile explosion. On April 8, Kramatorsk is the scene of an atrocity after a missile strike hits the railway station, killing at least 50 civilians who are trying to evacuate to safety.
© Getty Images
7 / 60 Fotos
March 15, 2022
- Civilians fleeing the war in Ukraine walk towards a train to relocate them to Berlin, Germany, from Krakow in neighboring Poland. Hungary and Romania are also praised for their generosity in welcoming Ukraine's displaced population.
© Getty Images
8 / 60 Fotos
March 30, 2022
- A member of the Ukrainian special forces is seen in silhouette as he stands while a gas station burns after Russian attacks in the city of Kharkiv.
© Getty Images
9 / 60 Fotos
April 6, 2022
- A man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles on a street in Bucha. Ukraine authorities accuse Moscow of perpetrating a massacre after hundreds of bodies are discovered in the wake of a Russian withdrawal from the city.
© Getty Images
10 / 60 Fotos
April 18, 2022
- Smoke rises on the horizon following Russian missile strikes on Lviv, which leave six dead and eight wounded. The attack comes in the wake of the sinking of the Moskva, flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet.
© Getty Images
11 / 60 Fotos
May 1, 2022
- A Russian serviceman patrols the grounds outside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. The plant becomes a dangerous battleground for both invaders and defenders. By August, UN chief António Guterres is appealing to both sides to stop their "suicide attacks."
© Getty Images
12 / 60 Fotos
May 10, 2022
- The Azovstal iron and steel factory in Mariupol becomes a symbol of national resistance as Ukraine fighters hold back Russian forces for months. The city eventually falls after weeks of bombardment that kills thousands of civilians.
© Getty Images
13 / 60 Fotos
June 2, 2022
- Fresh graves are seen at a cemetery in Mariupol shortly after the Ukrainian surrender.
© Getty Images
14 / 60 Fotos
June 13, 2022
- A view of Sievierodonetsk, as seen from Lysychansk. Ukraine forces would lose control of Lysychansk in July after weeks of bloody fighting.
© Getty Images
15 / 60 Fotos
July 7, 2022
- Ukraine forces score a major propaganda coup by retaking and raising a flag over Snake Island, a tiny but significant speck of land in the Black Sea off the city of Odesa, which Russian troops had captured in February.
© Getty Images
16 / 60 Fotos
July 21, 2022
- After effectively blockading the movement of grain shipments out of ports in and around Odesa, Russia finally allows Ukraine to export this vital cargo across the Black Sea.
© Getty Images
17 / 60 Fotos
August 1, 2022
- Ukraine forces launch a major counteroffensive in the Kherson region deploying Western-supplied weapons systems, such as HIMARS, to target Russian military infrastructure (pictured).
© Getty Images
18 / 60 Fotos
September 14, 2022
- President Zelenskyy attends a flag hoisting ceremony in Izium after Ukrainian forces take control of the city from Russian forces.
© Getty Images
19 / 60 Fotos
September 27, 2022
- Russia begins to periodically shut down the Nord Stream gas pipelines in a bid to ratchet up pressure on Europe. Tensions rise after the release of gas emanating from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, likely as a result of an undersea explosion due to suspected sabotage. All gas exports to Europe are halted and prices immediately spiral.
© Getty Images
20 / 60 Fotos
September 30, 2022
- Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen in Moscow's Red Square addressing the nation as he announces the annexation of four regions of Ukraine—Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.
© Getty Images
21 / 60 Fotos
October 3, 2022
- Multiple wrecked Russian military vehicles are seen in Lyman, recently liberated from Russian troops in the Donetsk region. At least 32 Ukrainian soldiers' bodies are exhumed from a mass grave in the city.
© Getty Images
22 / 60 Fotos
October 8, 2022
- Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch Bridge that links Crimea to Russia after a truck exploded igniting a huge fire and damaging the key structure. Russia accuses Ukraine of sabotage.
© Getty Images
23 / 60 Fotos
October 10, 2022
- Two days after the Kerch Bridge explosion, Russia attacks Ukrainian towns and cities from land, sea, and air in a bid to cripple the country's energy infrastructure.
© Getty Images
24 / 60 Fotos
October 17, 202
- Russia is accused of using Iranian-made drones to launch missile attacks, with many finding their mark on civilian targets.
© Getty Images
25 / 60 Fotos
November 13, 2022
- The Ukrainian military win a significant victory with the liberation of Kherson. The southern port city was one of the first to fall to Russian forces
© Getty Images
26 / 60 Fotos
December 2, 2022
- Russian military personnel who were captured in Ukrainian territory are taken care of by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
© Getty Images
27 / 60 Fotos
December 21, 2022
- President Zelenskyy meets his US counterpart, Joe Biden, at the White House in Washington, D.C. on his first known trip outside of Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
© Getty Images
28 / 60 Fotos
January 1, 2023
- A Ukrainian missile strike on a building in Makiivka occupied by members of Russia's armed forces on temporary deployment kills 89 conscripts.
© Getty Images
29 / 60 Fotos
February 8, 2023
- President Zelenskyy makes a surprise visit to the United Kingdom where he meets Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and later addresses parliamentarians in Westminster Hall.
© Getty Images
30 / 60 Fotos
February 8, 2023
- During his time in London, Zelenskyy also has an audience with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.
© Getty Images
31 / 60 Fotos
February 20, 2023
- President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, for the first time since the full-scale war began and just days before the anniversary of Russia's invasion. Biden's personal visit is a huge symbolic gesture of American support for Zelenskyy, and he backed it up with an impressive number: the US committed to providing Ukraine with a new military aid package worth US$500 million. The Biden administration then announced additional security assistance for Ukraine totaling $2 billion.
© Getty Images
32 / 60 Fotos
March 11, 2023
- Hundreds of combatants from both sies were reported killed over a 24-hour period as the Battle of Bakhmut intensified. One of the most destructive battles of the war so far was described by some military analysts as the bloodiest since the Second World War.
© Getty Images
33 / 60 Fotos
April 21, 2023
- Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, announced that "all NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member," once the war with Russia was over.
© Getty Images
34 / 60 Fotos
April 28, 2023
- Russia launched airstrikes on multiple cities including Kyiv, Dnipro, Kremenchuk, Poltava, Mykolaiv and Uman. The attack on Uman (pictured) left at least 23 dead after two missiles hit an apartment block.
© Getty Images
35 / 60 Fotos
May 3, 2023
- Two explosive drones allegedly targeted the Kremlin in Moscow and were shot down. The incident was caught on CCTV. The Kremlin accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate Vladimir Putin, although the Russian president was not present in the building at the time. Image: CCTV
© Public Domain
36 / 60 Fotos
May 15, 2023
- Six days after the US Defense Department announced a new security assistance package worth US$1.2 billion, 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks arrived at Grafenwoehr, Germany for use in training of Ukrainian troops. Image: US Army
© Public Domain
37 / 60 Fotos
May 21, 2023
- After 10 months of fighting, Russian forces, spearheaded by Wagner Group mercenaries, claimed victory in Bakhmut. In an interview to AFP, President Zelenskyy lamented: "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," adding that "nothing" was left of the city. Al Jazeera reported two days later that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, said that 20,000 of his fighters died in the battle for the city, and acknowledged that the Russian military had killed civilians.
© Getty Images
38 / 60 Fotos
June 6, 2023
- Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up the Kakhovka Dam along the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast. Massive flooding ensued, submerging over 3,000 homes and killing at least 58 people. The environmental costs of the attack were considerable.
© Getty Images
39 / 60 Fotos
June 8, 2023
- Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying its territory began. President Putin confirmed as much, but in the same breath said that Russia would begin deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
© Getty Images
40 / 60 Fotos
June 21, 2023
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that the counteroffensive was progressing "slower than desired" while also affirming that Ukraine will "advance on the battlefield the way we deem best." He delivered a speech via videolink on the first day of the Ukraine Recovery Conference on June 21, 2023 in London, England. Leaders and representatives from more than 60 countries were in London for a two-day conference to secure funding to help Ukraine recover from the ravages of war.
© Getty Images
41 / 60 Fotos
June 23, 2023
- Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin announced a mutiny against the Russian military leadership. Wagner soldiers entered Rostov Oblast and threatened to advance on Moscow. In exchange for withdrawing his forces from Rostov, Prigozhin had all charges against him and his followers dropped, and was granted exile in Belarus. He was killed in a plane crash on August 23.
© Getty Images
42 / 60 Fotos
June 27, 2023
- A Russian missile targeted a restaurant in Kramatorsk killing 13 people, including Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina, and injuring 60.
© Getty Images
43 / 60 Fotos
July 11–12, 2023
- NATO member states attending the 2023 Vilnius summit affirmed their support for Ukraine becoming part of the alliance, pending certain conditions. Among the keynote speakers was Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
© Getty Images
44 / 60 Fotos
July 19, 2023
- Russia launched a new wave of airstrikes on Odesa. The city had always been one of the Kremlin's key objectives. The historic Orthodox Holy Transfiguration Cathedral was among buildings damaged. The city was targeted for several days
© Getty Images
45 / 60 Fotos
September 6, 2023
- A Russian missile strike on the central market of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, killed at least 17 people including a child, and injured 33 others.
© Getty Images
46 / 60 Fotos
September 27, 2023
- Ukrainian forces retook Klishchiivka, a village in Bakhmut Raion, Donetsk Oblast. Klishchiivka was a frontline location during the Battle of Bakhmut.
© Getty Images
47 / 60 Fotos
November 2, 2023
- According to a statement delivered by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine sustained its most extensive Russian artillery bombardment of 2023 over the last 24 hours. At least 118 settlements in 10 regions were shelled, with children and their parents or guardians from 66 settlements in Kupiansk Raion, Kharkiv Oblast alone evacuated.
© Getty Images
48 / 60 Fotos
December 1, 2023
- In an interview with the Associated Press in Kharkiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive "did not achieve the desired results," and said the war had entered a new phase with the winter season.
© Getty Images
49 / 60 Fotos
4th December, 2023
- The Biden administration warned that funding for Ukrainian military aid would run out by the end of the year and requested more funding from Congress. On December 6, the Senate blocked a funding bill that included aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, with every Republican senator voting against it. On the same day, Ukraine requested more weapons from the United States.
© Getty Images
50 / 60 Fotos
December 12, 2023
- The Biden administration did, however, push through a new aid package to Ukraine valued at US$200 million. This was announced during President Zelenskyy's meeting with Joe Biden at the White House.
© Getty Images
51 / 60 Fotos
December 20, 2023
- The Ukrainian military acknowledged that Russian forces had advanced by nearly 1.2 miles (2 km) in parts of the Avdiivka sector in the past two months.
© Getty Images
52 / 60 Fotos
December 29, 2023
- In the early morning hours of December 29, Russia launched what was seen to be the largest wave of missiles and drones yet seen in the conflict. Hundreds of missiles and drones hit the capital Kyiv and other cities across the country.
© Getty Images
53 / 60 Fotos
January 12, 2024
- During a visit to Kyiv, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced £2.5 billion (nearly US$3.1 billion) in military support for Ukraine in the next financial year. The aid package was earmarked for the manufacture and purchase of drones, munitions, maritime security, and humanitarian aid.
© Getty Images
54 / 60 Fotos
January 24, 2024
- A Russian IL-76 military transport plane carrying 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian POWs according to Russian officials, crashed in Yablonovo, Belgorod Oblast, killing everyone on board. It's likely that a Ukraine missile downed the aircraft in the belief that it was transporting S-300 missiles. Pictured is a church service for those who lost their lives in the incident.
© Getty Images
55 / 60 Fotos
February 13, 2024
- The US Senate finally passed a U$95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
© Getty Images
56 / 60 Fotos
February 16, 2024
- President Zelenskyy arrived in Germany to sign a bilateral security deal and aid package with the German government worth €8.14 billion. Later in the day, Zelenskyy signed a 10-year bilateral security deal with President Macron in France that would provide Ukraine with €3 billion of aid in 2024.
© Getty Images
57 / 60 Fotos
February 17, 2024
- After launching an offensive aimed at capturing Avdiivka in October 2023, Russian forces finally took the Ukrainian town on February 17. The conquest of Avdiivka represented a strategic and symbolic victory for Russia, strengthening its defense of the regional capital, Donetsk.
© Getty Images
58 / 60 Fotos
February 24, 2024
- Two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the war has broadly reached a stalemate, despite Russian attempts to advance in the eastern Donbas region and Ukrainian attacks in the south. Pictured is an elderly woman walking among the graves along the Alley of Heroes where Ukrainian soldiers who died in the Russian-Ukrainian war are buried, in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region. Sources: (Euronews) (The New York Times) (Voice of America) (Council of Europe) (Al Jazeera) (US Department of Defense) (Wilson Center) (Time) (Reuters) (BBC) (AP) (CNN)
© Getty Images
59 / 60 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 60 Fotos
February 24, 2022
- Russia invades Ukraine. The evacuation of the Ukrainian population effectively begins on the same day. Here, a child sits in a refugee bus in the city of Lysychansk.
© Getty Images
1 / 60 Fotos
February 26, 2022
- Tens of thousands of Russian troops pour into northern Ukraine in an attempt to take the capital Kyiv and overthrow the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The city is bombed relentlessly, resulting in numerous civilian casualties.
© Getty Images
2 / 60 Fotos
February 27, 2022
- The world protests Vladimir Putin's indiscriminate and unjustified act of aggression. Demonstrations take place in major cities around the globe, including London where thousands of Ukrainians and their supporters gather at Trafalgar Square.
© Getty Images
3 / 60 Fotos
February 28, 2022
- Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, is also attacked. This photograph shows a view of a school destroyed by Russian aerial bombardment.
© Getty Images
4 / 60 Fotos
March 1, 2022
- President Zelenskyy (seen on screen) gives a live video address during a special plenary session of the European Parliament focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the EU headquarters in Brussels.
© Getty Images
5 / 60 Fotos
March 7, 2022
- Evacuees cross a destroyed bridge as they flee the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv. Ukraine dismisses Moscow's cynical offer to set up humanitarian corridors from several bombarded cities after it emerges some routes would lead refugees into Russia or Belarus.
© Getty Images
6 / 60 Fotos
March 7, 2022
- A resident uses a dustpan and broom (top) to clear the debris from an apartment as another looks out of the destroyed front of a room in a multi-story building in Kramatorsk, badly damaged as a result of a Russian missile explosion. On April 8, Kramatorsk is the scene of an atrocity after a missile strike hits the railway station, killing at least 50 civilians who are trying to evacuate to safety.
© Getty Images
7 / 60 Fotos
March 15, 2022
- Civilians fleeing the war in Ukraine walk towards a train to relocate them to Berlin, Germany, from Krakow in neighboring Poland. Hungary and Romania are also praised for their generosity in welcoming Ukraine's displaced population.
© Getty Images
8 / 60 Fotos
March 30, 2022
- A member of the Ukrainian special forces is seen in silhouette as he stands while a gas station burns after Russian attacks in the city of Kharkiv.
© Getty Images
9 / 60 Fotos
April 6, 2022
- A man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles on a street in Bucha. Ukraine authorities accuse Moscow of perpetrating a massacre after hundreds of bodies are discovered in the wake of a Russian withdrawal from the city.
© Getty Images
10 / 60 Fotos
April 18, 2022
- Smoke rises on the horizon following Russian missile strikes on Lviv, which leave six dead and eight wounded. The attack comes in the wake of the sinking of the Moskva, flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet.
© Getty Images
11 / 60 Fotos
May 1, 2022
- A Russian serviceman patrols the grounds outside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. The plant becomes a dangerous battleground for both invaders and defenders. By August, UN chief António Guterres is appealing to both sides to stop their "suicide attacks."
© Getty Images
12 / 60 Fotos
May 10, 2022
- The Azovstal iron and steel factory in Mariupol becomes a symbol of national resistance as Ukraine fighters hold back Russian forces for months. The city eventually falls after weeks of bombardment that kills thousands of civilians.
© Getty Images
13 / 60 Fotos
June 2, 2022
- Fresh graves are seen at a cemetery in Mariupol shortly after the Ukrainian surrender.
© Getty Images
14 / 60 Fotos
June 13, 2022
- A view of Sievierodonetsk, as seen from Lysychansk. Ukraine forces would lose control of Lysychansk in July after weeks of bloody fighting.
© Getty Images
15 / 60 Fotos
July 7, 2022
- Ukraine forces score a major propaganda coup by retaking and raising a flag over Snake Island, a tiny but significant speck of land in the Black Sea off the city of Odesa, which Russian troops had captured in February.
© Getty Images
16 / 60 Fotos
July 21, 2022
- After effectively blockading the movement of grain shipments out of ports in and around Odesa, Russia finally allows Ukraine to export this vital cargo across the Black Sea.
© Getty Images
17 / 60 Fotos
August 1, 2022
- Ukraine forces launch a major counteroffensive in the Kherson region deploying Western-supplied weapons systems, such as HIMARS, to target Russian military infrastructure (pictured).
© Getty Images
18 / 60 Fotos
September 14, 2022
- President Zelenskyy attends a flag hoisting ceremony in Izium after Ukrainian forces take control of the city from Russian forces.
© Getty Images
19 / 60 Fotos
September 27, 2022
- Russia begins to periodically shut down the Nord Stream gas pipelines in a bid to ratchet up pressure on Europe. Tensions rise after the release of gas emanating from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, likely as a result of an undersea explosion due to suspected sabotage. All gas exports to Europe are halted and prices immediately spiral.
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20 / 60 Fotos
September 30, 2022
- Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen in Moscow's Red Square addressing the nation as he announces the annexation of four regions of Ukraine—Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.
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21 / 60 Fotos
October 3, 2022
- Multiple wrecked Russian military vehicles are seen in Lyman, recently liberated from Russian troops in the Donetsk region. At least 32 Ukrainian soldiers' bodies are exhumed from a mass grave in the city.
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22 / 60 Fotos
October 8, 2022
- Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch Bridge that links Crimea to Russia after a truck exploded igniting a huge fire and damaging the key structure. Russia accuses Ukraine of sabotage.
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23 / 60 Fotos
October 10, 2022
- Two days after the Kerch Bridge explosion, Russia attacks Ukrainian towns and cities from land, sea, and air in a bid to cripple the country's energy infrastructure.
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24 / 60 Fotos
October 17, 202
- Russia is accused of using Iranian-made drones to launch missile attacks, with many finding their mark on civilian targets.
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25 / 60 Fotos
November 13, 2022
- The Ukrainian military win a significant victory with the liberation of Kherson. The southern port city was one of the first to fall to Russian forces
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26 / 60 Fotos
December 2, 2022
- Russian military personnel who were captured in Ukrainian territory are taken care of by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
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27 / 60 Fotos
December 21, 2022
- President Zelenskyy meets his US counterpart, Joe Biden, at the White House in Washington, D.C. on his first known trip outside of Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
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28 / 60 Fotos
January 1, 2023
- A Ukrainian missile strike on a building in Makiivka occupied by members of Russia's armed forces on temporary deployment kills 89 conscripts.
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29 / 60 Fotos
February 8, 2023
- President Zelenskyy makes a surprise visit to the United Kingdom where he meets Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and later addresses parliamentarians in Westminster Hall.
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30 / 60 Fotos
February 8, 2023
- During his time in London, Zelenskyy also has an audience with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.
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31 / 60 Fotos
February 20, 2023
- President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, for the first time since the full-scale war began and just days before the anniversary of Russia's invasion. Biden's personal visit is a huge symbolic gesture of American support for Zelenskyy, and he backed it up with an impressive number: the US committed to providing Ukraine with a new military aid package worth US$500 million. The Biden administration then announced additional security assistance for Ukraine totaling $2 billion.
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32 / 60 Fotos
March 11, 2023
- Hundreds of combatants from both sies were reported killed over a 24-hour period as the Battle of Bakhmut intensified. One of the most destructive battles of the war so far was described by some military analysts as the bloodiest since the Second World War.
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33 / 60 Fotos
April 21, 2023
- Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, announced that "all NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member," once the war with Russia was over.
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34 / 60 Fotos
April 28, 2023
- Russia launched airstrikes on multiple cities including Kyiv, Dnipro, Kremenchuk, Poltava, Mykolaiv and Uman. The attack on Uman (pictured) left at least 23 dead after two missiles hit an apartment block.
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35 / 60 Fotos
May 3, 2023
- Two explosive drones allegedly targeted the Kremlin in Moscow and were shot down. The incident was caught on CCTV. The Kremlin accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate Vladimir Putin, although the Russian president was not present in the building at the time. Image: CCTV
© Public Domain
36 / 60 Fotos
May 15, 2023
- Six days after the US Defense Department announced a new security assistance package worth US$1.2 billion, 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks arrived at Grafenwoehr, Germany for use in training of Ukrainian troops. Image: US Army
© Public Domain
37 / 60 Fotos
May 21, 2023
- After 10 months of fighting, Russian forces, spearheaded by Wagner Group mercenaries, claimed victory in Bakhmut. In an interview to AFP, President Zelenskyy lamented: "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," adding that "nothing" was left of the city. Al Jazeera reported two days later that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, said that 20,000 of his fighters died in the battle for the city, and acknowledged that the Russian military had killed civilians.
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38 / 60 Fotos
June 6, 2023
- Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up the Kakhovka Dam along the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast. Massive flooding ensued, submerging over 3,000 homes and killing at least 58 people. The environmental costs of the attack were considerable.
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39 / 60 Fotos
June 8, 2023
- Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying its territory began. President Putin confirmed as much, but in the same breath said that Russia would begin deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
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40 / 60 Fotos
June 21, 2023
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that the counteroffensive was progressing "slower than desired" while also affirming that Ukraine will "advance on the battlefield the way we deem best." He delivered a speech via videolink on the first day of the Ukraine Recovery Conference on June 21, 2023 in London, England. Leaders and representatives from more than 60 countries were in London for a two-day conference to secure funding to help Ukraine recover from the ravages of war.
© Getty Images
41 / 60 Fotos
June 23, 2023
- Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin announced a mutiny against the Russian military leadership. Wagner soldiers entered Rostov Oblast and threatened to advance on Moscow. In exchange for withdrawing his forces from Rostov, Prigozhin had all charges against him and his followers dropped, and was granted exile in Belarus. He was killed in a plane crash on August 23.
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42 / 60 Fotos
June 27, 2023
- A Russian missile targeted a restaurant in Kramatorsk killing 13 people, including Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina, and injuring 60.
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43 / 60 Fotos
July 11–12, 2023
- NATO member states attending the 2023 Vilnius summit affirmed their support for Ukraine becoming part of the alliance, pending certain conditions. Among the keynote speakers was Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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44 / 60 Fotos
July 19, 2023
- Russia launched a new wave of airstrikes on Odesa. The city had always been one of the Kremlin's key objectives. The historic Orthodox Holy Transfiguration Cathedral was among buildings damaged. The city was targeted for several days
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45 / 60 Fotos
September 6, 2023
- A Russian missile strike on the central market of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, killed at least 17 people including a child, and injured 33 others.
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46 / 60 Fotos
September 27, 2023
- Ukrainian forces retook Klishchiivka, a village in Bakhmut Raion, Donetsk Oblast. Klishchiivka was a frontline location during the Battle of Bakhmut.
© Getty Images
47 / 60 Fotos
November 2, 2023
- According to a statement delivered by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine sustained its most extensive Russian artillery bombardment of 2023 over the last 24 hours. At least 118 settlements in 10 regions were shelled, with children and their parents or guardians from 66 settlements in Kupiansk Raion, Kharkiv Oblast alone evacuated.
© Getty Images
48 / 60 Fotos
December 1, 2023
- In an interview with the Associated Press in Kharkiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive "did not achieve the desired results," and said the war had entered a new phase with the winter season.
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49 / 60 Fotos
4th December, 2023
- The Biden administration warned that funding for Ukrainian military aid would run out by the end of the year and requested more funding from Congress. On December 6, the Senate blocked a funding bill that included aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, with every Republican senator voting against it. On the same day, Ukraine requested more weapons from the United States.
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50 / 60 Fotos
December 12, 2023
- The Biden administration did, however, push through a new aid package to Ukraine valued at US$200 million. This was announced during President Zelenskyy's meeting with Joe Biden at the White House.
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51 / 60 Fotos
December 20, 2023
- The Ukrainian military acknowledged that Russian forces had advanced by nearly 1.2 miles (2 km) in parts of the Avdiivka sector in the past two months.
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52 / 60 Fotos
December 29, 2023
- In the early morning hours of December 29, Russia launched what was seen to be the largest wave of missiles and drones yet seen in the conflict. Hundreds of missiles and drones hit the capital Kyiv and other cities across the country.
© Getty Images
53 / 60 Fotos
January 12, 2024
- During a visit to Kyiv, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced £2.5 billion (nearly US$3.1 billion) in military support for Ukraine in the next financial year. The aid package was earmarked for the manufacture and purchase of drones, munitions, maritime security, and humanitarian aid.
© Getty Images
54 / 60 Fotos
January 24, 2024
- A Russian IL-76 military transport plane carrying 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian POWs according to Russian officials, crashed in Yablonovo, Belgorod Oblast, killing everyone on board. It's likely that a Ukraine missile downed the aircraft in the belief that it was transporting S-300 missiles. Pictured is a church service for those who lost their lives in the incident.
© Getty Images
55 / 60 Fotos
February 13, 2024
- The US Senate finally passed a U$95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
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56 / 60 Fotos
February 16, 2024
- President Zelenskyy arrived in Germany to sign a bilateral security deal and aid package with the German government worth €8.14 billion. Later in the day, Zelenskyy signed a 10-year bilateral security deal with President Macron in France that would provide Ukraine with €3 billion of aid in 2024.
© Getty Images
57 / 60 Fotos
February 17, 2024
- After launching an offensive aimed at capturing Avdiivka in October 2023, Russian forces finally took the Ukrainian town on February 17. The conquest of Avdiivka represented a strategic and symbolic victory for Russia, strengthening its defense of the regional capital, Donetsk.
© Getty Images
58 / 60 Fotos
February 24, 2024
- Two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the war has broadly reached a stalemate, despite Russian attempts to advance in the eastern Donbas region and Ukrainian attacks in the south. Pictured is an elderly woman walking among the graves along the Alley of Heroes where Ukrainian soldiers who died in the Russian-Ukrainian war are buried, in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region. Sources: (Euronews) (The New York Times) (Voice of America) (Council of Europe) (Al Jazeera) (US Department of Defense) (Wilson Center) (Time) (Reuters) (BBC) (AP) (CNN)
© Getty Images
59 / 60 Fotos
In pictures: The war in Ukraine, two years on
February 24 marked two years since Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine
© Getty Images
Russia's invasion of Ukraine took place on February 24, 2022. In the two years since, both sides have lost a staggering number of troops, the figure nearing 500,000 by latest estimates. Ukraine civilian casualties alone number over 9,000, while the damage to the country's housing, transportation, and industrial sector infrastructure is considerable. But as of February 2024, the war has broadly reached a stalemate. And with political wrangling over funding the war intensifying, there appears to be no end in sight to this brutal and destructive conflict. So as the world ponders the last 24 months since hostilities began, it's time to pause and reflect on some of the key events that have taken place since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Click through and review the war in Ukraine so far.
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