On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion is causing thousands of deaths every month (as of 2023's third quarter).
It is part of the Russo-Ukrainian War that started in 2014. The invasion (in 2022) started after the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis. Russia supported the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic in the days before the invasion.
More Russian soldiers came to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on 21 February 2022. The invasion was condemned by many countries. In Russia, many opposition groups formed anti-war protests. Many of the protesters were arrested by the Russian government.
Announcement of war
At about 06:00 Moscow time (UTC+3), Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in eastern Ukraine. Minutes later, missile strikes began at locations across the country, including in the capital Kyiv. The Ukrainian Border Service said that its border posts with Russia and Belarus were attacked.
Invasion
Minutes after Putin's announcement, explosions were heard in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and the Donbas. Ukrainian officials said that Russia landed soldiers in Odessa and Mariupol and launched cruise and ballistic missiles at airfields, military headquarters, and military depots in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro. It is the largest attack by one country against another in Europe since World War II.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that there would be martial law in Ukraine. Later he ordered the Ukrainian Army to kill as many Russian invaders as possible.
February 2022
Moments after the invasion on 24 February, the Ukraine government said that Russia took Chernobyl and Pripyat. The US government said that the Russians were holding the workers of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant hostage. At 22:00 (UTC+2), Russian forces captured Snake Island after a naval and air attack of the island. The thirteen border guards on the island were thought to have been killed in the bombardment after refusing to surrender to a Russian warship. President Zelenskyy announced that the border guards would be posthumously granted the title of Hero of Ukraine, the country's highest honor. However, it was found out later that the border guards were alive and captured by Russian forces.
On 25 February, while Russian soldiers approached Kyiv, Zelenskyy asked residents to create Molotov cocktails to "neutralise" the enemy. Putin meanwhile called on the Ukrainian military to overthrow the government. Ukraine gave 18,000 rifles (a kind of gun) to Kyiv residents who wanted to fight. Some Russian soldiers did enter northern Kyiv.
On 26 February, heavy fighting was reported to the south of Kyiv, near the city of Vasylkiv and its air base. A Ukrainian fighter jet (Su-27) shot down a Russian transport plane (Ilyushin -76) carrying paratroopers near Vasylkiv. Hundreds of deaths were reported in Kyiv during this battle. That same day, Russia claimed to have captured Melitopol, near the Sea of Azov.
On 27 February, President Putin ordered Russia's nuclear deterrent forces to be on "special alert" because of "aggressive statements" by NATO. That same day, President Zelenskyy announced that the Ukrainian and Russian officials had agreed to meet, without conditions. That same day, a Russian airstrike killed over 70 Ukrainian soldiers at a military base in Okhtyrka. Russian soldiers have been accused of killing civilians and the using of cluster bombs on civilians - which may be seen as war crimes.
March 2022
On 1 March, Ukrainian sources said Belarus joined the invasion, sending its soldiers to the Chernihiv region in Ukraine's north. Belarus said this had not happened. On the same day, there was at least one rocket attack on Kyiv; With AFP as a source, media wrote that "Russian strike stirs symbolism at Kyiv Holocaust site". The next day, Russia claimed to have captured its first large city, the Black Sea port of Kherson, as fighting intensifies across many parts of Ukraine, including civilian areas. That same day, the International Criminal Court began an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine.
On 3 March, Ukraine passed a law that states captured Russian military equipment and tanks does not need to be declared and tax will not be applied on them. The next day, Russian forces attacked and bombed the Zaphorizhzhia nuclear power plant. The main reactor was not hit and fallout did not occur. That same day, foreign news outlets including the BBC, CNN, and many others stopped their reporting in Russia, after new legislation threatened 15-year jail terms for spreading "fake news".