Russia-Ukraine War – One year on | The Nation
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, and a year later, the battle continues without a sign of cessation. Here are the key events that took place over the past year:
2022
January 19: US President Joe Biden says: “Russia will be held accountable if it invades [Ukraine].”
February 24: Russian President Vladimir Putin announces he is launching a “special military operation” in Ukraine and the land, sea and air invasion begins.
February 25: Russia attacks Ukraine capital Kyiv. The government releases 18,000 guns among residents and deploys Territorial Defence Forces to defend Kyiv.
February 26: Russian forces advance towards the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
February 27: The European Union bans Russian aircraft from entering EU airspace.
March 1: US closes its skies to Russian aircraft. EU, United Kingdom, Canada and the US agree to remove 7 Russian banks from the SWIFT banking system.
March 8: The European Commission unveils plans to reduce dependence on Russian gas by two-thirds by the end of 2022. The US bans imports of Russian crude oil.
March 16: The Donestsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol is attacked. Reports of civilian deaths have varied from a dozen to 600-plus.
March 29: Russian and Ukrainian negotiators meet in Istanbul – their first in-person meeting in more than three weeks.
April 2: As Russian troops withdraw from Bucha, dozens of apparently civilian corpses are found on the streets.
April 7: 60 killed in attack on Kramatorsk Railways Station.
April 8: EU bans import of coal, lumber, cement, seafood and fertiliser from Russia. The EU kicks off Ukraine’s membership application process.
April 14: Ukraine sinks Russia’s Black Sea Fleet’s flagship Moskva.
April 21: Putin declares victory in Mariupol.
May 12: Finland says it will join Nato.
May 15: Sweden announces it will join Nato.
May 18: EU announces plans to ditch all Russian fossil fuel over five years.
June 22: Ukraine says it has taken 1,026 settlements back from Russian control.
June 27: Shopping mall in Kremenchuk is attacked, killing at least 18 people. Russia defaults on its sovereign debt for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
June 30: Russian forces withdraw from Snake Island in the Black Sea.
July 3: Russia claims it has taken Lysychansk city, giving it nominal control of Luhansk region.
July 22: Russia and Ukraine sign an agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
July 29: At least 50 Ukrainian PoWs are massacred in Olenivka prison.
August 9: Some 9 Russian warplanes are destroyed at an airbase in Crimea in what would appear to be the first significant Ukrainian attack on a Russian base on the peninsula.
August 18: United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres warns damage to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station would be “suicide”, as Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of shelling close to the plant.
August 20: Darya Dugina, daughter of prominent Russian ultranationalist Alexander Dugin, is killed in a car bomb blast near Moscow, in what may have been an assassination attempt on her father.
August 24: At least 25 killed in Chaplyne Railway Station. Russia claims it was targeting a military train.
August 25: Putin orders the call-up of 137,000 soldiers for use in Ukraine by the end of the year.
September 11: Russian Defence Ministry announces formal withdrawal of Russian troops from nearly all of Kharkiv Oblast.
September 12: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his forces have retaken 6,000 square kilometres of territory from Russia.
September 20: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia announce referendums to approve their annexation by Russia on September 23 to 27.
September 21: Putin announces partial mobilisation to begin immediately.
Russia releases 10 foreign prisoners of war and a record high of 215 Ukraine soldiers are released in a prisoner exchange.
September 26: A series of bombings and subsequent underwater gas leaks occur on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines.
September 27: Over 194,000 Russians, primarily fighting-age men and their families, leave Russia after the government announces that 300,000 citizens will be drafted to fight the war.
October 2: Ukrainian forces burst through Russian lines in the South, capturing several villages along the Dnieper River. This is the biggest Ukrainian advance in the South since the war began.
October 3: Ukrainian authorities effectively end Russian occupation of Kharkiv Oblast.
October 8: A section of Crimean Bridge burns and partially collapses after an explosion, resulting in the death of at least three people.
October 10: Russia launches massive missile strike across the entire territory of Ukraine. Putin says this attack is in revenge of the Crimean Bridge explosion.
October 15: 11 killed, 15 injured after two shooters opened fire on a group of volunteers at a Russian military training ground in Soloti, Belgorod Oblast, near the Ukraine border. The two attackers are killed in the incident.
October 19: Civilians are evacuated from Kherson in preparation for a Ukrainian offensive on the city.
October 22: Power outages are reported across Ukraine as Russian airstrikes strike critical infrastructure and energy facilities.
October 29: Russia-occupied Sevastopol Naval Base is attacked by unmanned surface vehicles and drones.
November 3: US says that North Korea is covertly shipping artillery to Russia.
November 11: Ukrainian troops enter the city of Kherson with little fighting.
November 15: A missile crosses Polish borders and strikes the village of Przewodów, killing two civilians.
The missile is likely to have been an air defence missile fired by Ukrainian forces.
December 5: Explosions are reported at two Russian airbases. Russia launches a new wave of missile strikes against Ukraine, comprising about 70 cruise missiles.
December 12: Zelenskyy appeals for tanks, artillery and long-range weapons.
December 16: Russia launches around 76 missiles at 9 power plants.
December 21: Zelenskiy meets Biden and addresses the US Congress.
December 27: Russia bans crude oil sales to price cap nations, including G7, EU and Australia.
December 29: Belarus reports it has shot down an S-300 anti-aircraft missile that apparently targeted rural Belarus.
2023
January 1: Ukraine claims to have killed 400 Russian soldiers during a missile attack on Makiivka in Donetsk. Russia says only 89 were killed.
January 5: Putin orders Russian armed forces to hold a 36-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas. Germany decides to provide Ukraine with a Patriot missile system.
January 11: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu appoints Valery Gerasimov as the overall commander of the war against Ukraine.
January 14: UK states it will provide Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.
January 16: Russia secures control of Soledar.
January 24: Several senior and junior ministers resign in Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agrees to provide Leopard 2 tanks and allows other countries to do the same.
January 25: US is expected to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
January 31: Biden tells a reporter that the US is not sending F-16s to Ukraine.
February 10: 35 countries, including the US, Germany and Australia, demand that Belarus and Russia are banned from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
