Shortly before 06:00 Moscow Time (UTC+3) on 24 February, Putin announced that he had made the decision to launch a "special military operation" in eastern Ukraine. In his address, Putin claimed there were no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory and that he supported the right of the people of Ukraine to self-determination. Putin also stated that Russia sought the "demilitarisation and denazification" of Ukraine. He said that "all responsibility for possible bloodshed will be entirely on the conscience of the regime ruling on the territory of Ukraine."

The Russian Ministry of Defence asked air traffic control units of Ukraine to stop flights, and the airspace over Ukraine was restricted to non-civilian air traffic, and the whole area was deemed an active conflict zone by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

Declaration of War

Within minutes of Putin's announcement, explosions were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and the Donbas. Ukrainian officials said that Russian troops had landed in Mariupol and Odesa, and had launched cruise and ballistic missiles at airfields, military headquarters, and military depots in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro.

Military vehicles entered Ukraine through Senkivka, at the point where Ukraine meets Belarus and Russia, at around 6:48 am local time. A video captured Russian troops entering Ukraine from Russian-annexed Crimea.

Start of the invasion of Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday morning of February 24, issued an urgent appeal to the Ukrainians in regards to the attack of the Russian army on Ukraine.

Thus, the head of state said that Russia carried out strikes on the Ukrainian military infrastructure and border guards, and announced the introduction of martial law throughout the country.

He said that he had already had a telephone conversation with his American colleague Joe Biden and asked the Ukrainians to stay at home.

"Don't panic - we are strong. We will defeat everyone. Glory to Ukraine!"

President Zelensky announces martial law in Ukraine

Snake Island sits about 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the southern tip of the Ukrainian mainland in the northwestern Black Sea. It's about 185 miles (300 kilometers) west of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia annexed in 2014.

On February 24, a Russian warship approached Snake Island in the Black Sea and offered to surrender twice: "This is a Russian military warship. I suggest you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and needless casualties. Otherwise, you will be bombed."

In response, Ukrainian border guards protecting the island broadcasted: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself!"

Those were the final known words heard from the island. All 13 Ukrainian defenders were considered killed in a Russian bombardment.

Snake Island Attack

After Russia's Defense Ministry announced that it would hit targets to stop "information attacks", missiles struck broadcasting infrastructure for the primary television and radio transmitters in Kyiv, taking TV channels off the air. 

A Russian airstrike hit Kyiv’s main television tower in the heart of the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday, knocking out some state broadcasting but leaving the structure intact.

At least five people died and five were injured in the missile strike, the Ukrainian emergencies service said.


Babyn Yar Attack

On 6 March 2022, from 9:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. local time, the Russian Armed Forces repeatedly shelled an intersection in Irpin that hundreds of civilians were using to escape to Kyiv, whilst a Ukrainian artillery position was located nearby. 

They killed eight Ukrainian civilians. Human Rights Watch alleged the Russian army carried out an unlawful, indiscriminate, and disproportionate attack.

Irpin refugee column shelling

Turkey hosted a trilateral meeting between foreign ministers in Antalya. Minister Çavuşoğlu stated that our hope was to re-establish peace in our region and that we would continue our efforts for diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign minister described his meeting with Lavrov as difficult, as they yielded no result.

The Russian Defense Ministry meanwhile stated that Russian forces would open humanitarian corridors every day to Russia from 10:00

Trilateral meeting in Antalya

Russian forces dropped a powerful bomb on a theatre in the encircled Ukrainian port city of Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were sheltering on Wednesday

Mariupol City Council, who shared an image of the destroyed building, said Russian forces had "purposefully and cynically destroyed the Drama Theater in the heart of Mariupol."

"The plane dropped a bomb on a building where hundreds of peaceful Mariupol residents were hiding". The fate of the hundreds of people sheltering in the theater as the entrance to the bomb shelter is blocked by rubble.

Mariupol Drama Theatre bombing

A Russian missile strike reduced Kyiv’s Retroville shopping mall to a smoldering ruin, killing at least eight people in one of the most powerful explosions yet seen in the capital.

The strike occurred in the northern part of Kyiv around 11 p.m. on March 20, flattening one part of the mall and turning the parking lot into a sea of flames. The explosion blew debris of the shopping complex a long distance away in every direction.

The State Emergency Service said shortly after the explosion that 63 firefighters worked to extinguish the flames that had reached the third and fourth floor of the mall.

Russian missile hits Retroville mall in Kyiv

The Ukrainian forces mounted counterattacks on Kyiv's eastern approaches, recapturing some settlements such as Lukianovka and defensive positions. 

To the immediate northwest of the capital, the fighting for Irpin continued, most of the town remaining in the Ukrainian hands amid sustained Russian artillery fire. The Russian forces took over the city of Slavutych north of Kyiv, close to the Chernobyl nuclear site.

Ukrainian counterattacks near Kyiv

Russian troops have withdrawn from Chernobyl, according to Ukrainian nuclear operator

Russian troops withdrawal from Chernobyl

Corpses were found in Bucha resulting from the Bucha massacre, with at least 20 dead Ukrainian civilians having been seen by reporters and, according to Bucha's mayor, 400 bodies having been buried in mass graves.

Human Rights Watch reported war crimes in the occupied areas of Ukraine — executions, rape, torture, and lootings.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported that Lithuanian film director Mantas Kvedaravičius was shot and killed in Mariupol while trying to escape

Bucha massacre

A train station in Kramatorsk was hit by a Russian rocket strike, killing at least 57 people and wounding 109 others.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said thousands of people had been at the station at the time the two rockets struck. Kyrylenko published a photograph online showing several bodies on the ground beside piles of suitcases and other luggage. Armed police personnel wearing flak jackets were also visible. 

The Russian Ministry of Defence denied the attack and said in a statement, "All statements by representatives of the Kyiv nationalist regime about the 'rocket attack' allegedly carried out by Russia on April 8 at the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk are a provocation and are absolutely untrue."

 Kramatorsk railway station attack

Ukraine claimed the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles, setting the ship on fire. Moskva later suffered a munition explosion due to the fires. 

Later, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed that the warship had suffered serious damage and that all its crew had been evacuated, but claimed that it remained afloat, which was confirmed by The Pentagon. 

The claim is disputed by Russia who said that the sinking was due to an accidental fire. Russia later said that measures were being taken to tow the stricken ship back to port.

Sinking of the "Moskva"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Russia has begun its battle for the Donbas after regrouping ahead of an expected offensive on the country’s eastern region.

“It can now be stated that Russian troops have begun the battle for Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time,” Zelensky said in an address.  “A very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive.”

Beginning of the Battle of Donbass

Vladimir Putin declared victory in Mariupol in spite of remaining Ukrainian holdouts at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. In a televised meeting, russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu claimed that it would take three or four days to clear the plant. However, Putin claimed such an operation to be "impractical" and ordered a blockade of the plant instead

Televised meeting of Putin and Shoigu

A defense conference on securing Ukraine's long-term security is happening at the US airbase in Ramstein, Germany. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has invited around 40 countries to the conference. 
