In the months preceding the invasion, Russian officials accused Ukraine of Russophobia, inciting tensions, and repressing Russian speakers in Ukraine.
They also made multiple security demands of Ukraine, NATO, and non-NATO allies in the EU. Commentators and Western officials described these as attempts to justify war.
The invasion began on the morning of 24 February, when Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” for the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine.
In his address, Putin espoused irredentist views, challenged Ukraine’s right to statehood, and falsely claimed Ukraine was governed by neo-Nazis who persecuted the ethnic Russian minority.
Minutes later, missiles, rockets and airstrikes hit across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, followed by a large ground invasion from multiple directions.
Russian attacks were initially launched on a northern front from Belarus towards Kyiv, a north-eastern front towards Kharkiv, a southern front from Crimea, and a south-eastern front from Luhansk and Donetsk.
Russia’s advance towards Kyiv stalled in March, with Russian troops retreating from the northern front by April. On the southern and south-eastern fronts, Russia captured Kherson in March and then Mariupol in May after a siege. On 19 April, Russia launched a renewed attack on the Donbas region, with Luhansk Oblast fully captured by 3 July.
Russian forces continued to bomb both military and civilian targets far from the frontline. Ukrainian forces launched counteroffensives in the south in August, and in the northeast in September. Soon after, Russia announced the annexation of partially occupied southeastern Ukraine.
