{"id":16012,"date":"2024-02-24T12:49:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T12:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/24\/the-war-in-ukraine-in-12-key-moments\/"},"modified":"2024-02-24T12:49:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T12:49:00","slug":"the-war-in-ukraine-in-12-key-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/24\/the-war-in-ukraine-in-12-key-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"The war in Ukraine in 12 key moments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This weekend marks two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, upended long-held international norms and has no clear end in sight. <\/p>\n

In more than one sense, Russia\u2019s President Vladmir Putin has failed: Ukraine remains a sovereign nation, with Moscow in control of about one-fifth of its territory, far from his goal of toppling\u00a0its government. Putin wanted to stop NATO expanding:\u00a0He now faces an alliance that\u00a0has\u00a0added hundreds of kilometers\u00a0to its border with Russia following Finland\u2019s accession. <\/p>\n

But as the war enters a third year, there are increasingly signs that it\u00a0is turning in Russia\u2019s favor, both on the battlefield and in terms of once-solid\u00a0Western\u00a0support waning. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been taking a look\u00a0at\u00a0some of the most significant moments of the war\u00a0so far. <\/p>\n

February 24, 2022: The \u2018special military operation\u2019 begins<\/h2>\n

Two years ago, Putin made an early morning address announcing a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d against Ukraine, his still\u00a0frequently used euphemism for\u00a0the\u00a0full-scale invasion\u00a0of the country. <\/p>\n

Putin said he wanted the \u201cdenazification\u201d of Ukraine,\u00a0one of his justifications for the invasion that analysts say distorts history. <\/p>\n

Moments later, the first explosions were heard across\u00a0Ukraine. <\/p>\n

While there had been Western intelligence warnings of a looming Russian invasion for months prior, the announcement took many by surprise. <\/p>\n

Putin\u2019s announcement\u00a0signaled the start of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, which has\u00a0so far cost the lives of over 10,300 civilians, according to the United Nations. Military losses are harder to determine, but\u00a0Russia is thought\u00a0to have suffered more than 300,000 fatalities and injuries. <\/p>\n

February 26,\u00a02022:\u00a0\u2018I don\u2019t need a ride\u2019: Ukraine signals it will be no pushover<\/h2>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Kyiv when Russia invaded,\u00a0with Putin\u2019s forces expected to quickly advance on the capital. Two days later,\u00a0he turned down an offer\u00a0of evacuation\u00a0from the United States. <\/p>\n

In defiant words, he told the US,\u00a0\u201cI need ammunition, not a ride.\u201d <\/p>\n

His attitude signaled his country\u2019s fighting spirit in the face of Russian aggression and its determination not to crumble\u00a0as some expected it to. <\/p>\n

The Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island \u2013 a tiny island in the Black Sea \u2013 echoed this defiance in the early stages of the war when, outnumbered and ordered to surrender, they responded to a warning from an approaching Russian\u00a0military vessel\u00a0by saying, \u201cRussian warship, go f**k\u00a0yourself.\u201d <\/p>\n

Since then, the phrase has been adopted as a slogan during the war and used by demonstrators at Ukrainian solidarity protests in the West. <\/p>\n

March 16, 2022: Mariupol theater bombing<\/h2>\n

Throughout the conflict Russia has carried out a relentless bombing campaign, and\u00a0<\/strong>one of the worst examples came when Mariupol\u2019s Drama Theater was\u00a0hit\u00a0by Russian forces. <\/p>\n

An estimated 1,300 civilians were sheltering inside the theater when it was attacked. <\/p>\n

Painted on the ground outside the building \u2014 in giant Cyrillic letters visible from the air \u2014 was the word \u201cCHILDREN.\u201d <\/p>\n

Since then, there have been numerous high-profile Russian attacks on civilian targets. More than 40 people were killed in an attack on\u00a0an apartment block\u00a0in Dnipro in January 2023.\u00a0At least 51 people were killed when Moscow\u2019s forces targeted a caf\u00e9 and a shop in Hroza, in the Kharkiv region, in October 2023. <\/p>\n

April 1, 2022: Bucha atrocities<\/h2>\n

The following month, a small town to the west of Kyiv became a byword for war crimes. <\/p>\n

International experts said they found \u201cgrave breaches\u201d of international humanitarian law by Russian forces when they withdrew from the city of Bucha. <\/p>\n

Residents there shared stories of looted homes, murders and failed escapes. <\/p>\n

The town\u2019s\u00a0morgue ran out of space.\u00a0Some locals described turning their vegetable patches and front yards into makeshift graves, since the presence of Russian forces made it impossible\u00a0for them\u00a0to\u00a0transport their dead. <\/p>\n

Evidence of execution\u00a0was clear when bodies were found with their arms bound behind their backs with multiple bullet wounds. <\/p>\n

April 14, 2022: Sinking of the Moskva<\/h2>\n

The Russian warship Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Navy\u2019s Black Sea Fleet, sank on April 14. <\/p>\n

The reason for this was disputed. Ukraine claimed that it hit the vessel with anti-ship cruise missiles, while Russia insisted that\u00a0a fire caused it to sink. <\/p>\n

Regardless, the\u00a0sinking\u00a0was\u00a0a major embarrassment for Russia\u00a0\u2013\u00a0its biggest wartime loss of a naval ship in 40 years. <\/p>\n

It\u00a0was an early sign of how the\u00a0Black Sea\u00a0would become an important\u00a0front. <\/p>\n

In October that year,\u00a0Ukraine attacked the only bridge connecting annexed Crimea to mainland Russia and has been harrying Russia\u2019s Black Sea fleet, claiming to have destroyed a third of its vessels. <\/p>\n

November 9, 2022: Kherson liberation caps a successful autumn<\/h2>\n

There were\u00a0scenes of euphoria when the city of Kherson was liberated after eight months of Russian occupation. <\/p>\n

The retreat represented a major blow for Putin\u2019s war effort \u2013 Kherson was the only Ukrainian regional capital that Russian forces had captured since February\u2019s invasion. <\/p>\n

The withdrawal of Russian troops east across the Dnipro\u00a0River capped off a successful autumn for Ukraine,\u00a0with it\u00a0reclaiming swathes of land that Russia had occupied since the early days of the war. <\/p>\n

Despite battlefield successes, the colder months brought a new danger when Moscow\u2019s\u00a0air force\u00a0<\/strong>began pummelling the country\u2019s energy\u00a0<\/strong>network, an attempt to drain morale. <\/p>\n

Millions of civilians were left without electricity, heat, water and other critical services during winter. <\/p>\n

May 3, 2023: Drones hit the Kremlin, as the war comes to Russia<\/h2>\n

In the spring of 2023, an emboldened Kyiv increasingly brought the war home to Russia with a series of drone attacks on Russian soil. <\/p>\n

Strikes peppered cities including\u00a0the\u00a0Moscow.\u00a0On May 3, two explosive drones targeted the Kremlin,\u00a0in\u00a0the heart of\u00a0the capital. They were intercepted and destroyed before they caused any damage or injury, the Kremlin said.\u00a0Ukrainian officials denied involvement. <\/p>\n

Later that month,\u00a0Russian\u00a0blamed Ukraine for another\u00a0drone attack on Moscow, which left two injured and several buildings damaged. <\/p>\n

Putin called the attack \u201ca clear sign of terrorist activity\u201d while a spokesman for Ukraine\u2019s air force\u00a0said it\u00a0was aimed at Russians who felt the war was distant. <\/p>\n

There have been subsequent attacks, such as on oil facilities and other infrastructure. This year Russia evacuated some residents from the border region of Belgorod following a surge in deadly Ukrainian strikes. <\/p>\n

May 20, 2023: Russia takes control of Bakhmut
\n<\/h2>\n

In a rare gain, Russia\u00a0captured the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut following a months-long slog for every inch of territory. <\/p>\n

The struggle for the city \u2013\u00a0whose\u00a0symbolism outweighed\u00a0its\u00a0strategic importance \u2013 encapsulated the slow-moving nature of the ground war,\u00a0which had grown to resemble the kind of fighting seen in World War One. <\/p>\n

Moscow threw huge amounts of manpower, weaponry and attention towards the city yet struggled to break down a stubborn Ukrainian resistance that outlasted most expectations. <\/p>\n

June 2023: Ukraine counteroffensive<\/h2>\n

After months of build-up,\u00a0Ukraine began a counteroffensive\u00a0aimed at recapturing Russian-seized territory. <\/p>\n

With fighting focused on the southern and eastern fronts, its launch brought with it a renewed sense of optimism. However, Russia had had time to prepare layers of defenses. <\/p>\n

As the months passed, it became clear that the counteroffensive would not provide the decisive breakthrough many had hoped for.\u00a0For example, fighting\u00a0around Robotyne, to the north of Mariupol,\u00a0was marked\u00a0by a crawl over vast minefields,\u00a0with\u00a0<\/strong>troops battling for\u00a0gains\u00a0counted in streets, or even buildings. <\/p>\n

The counteroffensive had stalled by the time the winter returned, with Western intelligence assessments warning the battlefield could stagnate,\u00a0turning\u00a0the war\u00a0into\u00a0a \u201cfrozen conflict.\u201d <\/p>\n

June 23, 2023: Wagner mutiny<\/h2>\n

Yevgeny Prigozhin was the founder of Russia\u2019s Wagner private military group, which played a crucial role in Bakhmut. He was once close enough to Putin to be called his \u201cpersonal chef.\u201d <\/p>\n

But that all changed on June 23, when Prigozhin led an armed insurrection against Putin after railing against the country\u2019s military brass over their handling of the Ukraine war. <\/p>\n

His group started marching towards Moscow, shooting down military aircraft and killing Russian servicemen. But it was abruptly halted when a deal was brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. <\/p>\n

Criminal charges against the Wagner boss\u00a0were dropped,\u00a0yet Putin said in a speech at the time that those on the \u201cpath of treason\u201d would face punishment. <\/p>\n

Months later, Prigozhin was killed when a plane he was on board crashed northwest of Moscow. <\/p>\n

January 2024: US aid stalls<\/h2>\n

A constant drip feed of aid from Western countries, particularly the US, as well as the provision of modern weaponry,\u00a0has proved a vital lifeline for Ukraine in its war. <\/p>\n

But in early 2024, a US aid package for Ukraine stalled. The US Senate passed with bipartisan\u00a0backing a\u00a0$95.3 billion foreign aid bill, which includes $60 billion to support Ukraine. <\/p>\n

However, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has\u00a0resisted moves for a quick vote, which would\u00a0likely face\u00a0a\u00a0revolt from members of his own party. <\/p>\n

The episode of a reminder of how Ukraine\u2019s fate is not entirely in its own hands. Ukraine commanders have warned of\u00a0critical ammunition shortages\u00a0impeding their fight. <\/p>\n

February 8, 2024: Ukraine military chief fired<\/h2>\n

This month,\u00a0<\/strong>Zelensky announced the dismissal of Ukraine\u2019s top commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in the biggest military shakeup since the start of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion almost two years ago. <\/p>\n

The two are known to have fallen out and\u00a0<\/strong>his firing marked a political gamble for Zelensky.\u00a0Despite the failure of Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive,\u00a0the now-former military chief\u00a0remains one of the most popular leaders in the country. <\/p>\n

The move\u00a0also came\u00a0as Ukraine was put back on a defensive\u00a0footing by a\u00a0flurry of Russian offensives\u00a0along much of the frontlines. <\/p>\n

On February 17, Russia said it had won full control of the eastern city of Avdiivka, marking the biggest gain for Moscow since\u00a0<\/strong>Bakhmut.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\n

As the war enters its third year, the future of the conflict is all the more uncertain. <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend marks two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, upended long-held international norms and has no clear end in sight. In more than one sense, Russia\u2019s President Vladmir Putin has failed: Ukraine remains a sovereign nation, with Moscow in control of about one-fifth of its <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}