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Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began a year ago, thousands of people have been killed, millions forced from their homes, the invasion reduced entire cities to rubble and fueled fears that the confrontation could turn into open conflict between Russia and NATO.
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The following is a review of some of the main events in the conflict, writes BTA.
2022 year
FEBRUARY
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin - Russian politician.
Born on October 7, 1952 in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. Prez launched an invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south.
He announced that the goal of the "special military operation" was the "demilitarization" and "denazification" of the neighboring country to protect ethnic Russians, prevent Kiev from joining NATO and keep Ukraine in the "sphere of influence" of Russia.
Ukraine and the West say it is an illegal act of aggression against a country with a democratically elected government and a Jewish president whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust.
Russian troops quickly reached the outskirts of Kiev, but their attempts to capture the capital and other cities in the northeastern part of the country met with stiff resistance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky is a Ukrainian artist, screenwriter, producer and politician. Volodymyr (sometimes recorded a video in front of his headquarters to show that he remains and continues to rule.
MARCH
On March 2, Russia established control over the southern city of Kherson.
In the early days of March, Russian forces also captured the rest of Kherson Oblast and occupied much of the neighboring Zaporizhia Oblast, including the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe.
The Russian army was soon "stuck" on the outskirts of Kiev, and its long convoys along the highways to the Ukrainian capital became easy prey for Ukrainian artillery and drones.
On March 16, Russia struck a theater in the strategic port city of Mariupol where civilians had taken refuge, killing hundreds of people.
It was one of the deadliest raids of the war.
On March 29, Moscow announced the withdrawal of its forces from Kiev and other areas, saying it would focus on the industrial hub of Donbas in the east, where Russian-backed separatists have battled Ukrainian forces since 2014 following the illegal annexation of Crimea.
APRIL
After Russia's withdrawal from Kiev, hundreds of civilian bodies were found in mass graves or left on the streets of the city of Bucha, many with signs of torture in scenes that prompted world leaders to say Russia should be held accountable for any military crimes.
On April 9, a Russian missile strike on a railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk killed 52 civilians and wounded more than 100.
There was intense fighting for Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, and Russian airstrikes and artillery shelling reduced much of the city to ruins.
On April 13, the missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was hit by Ukrainian missiles and sank the next day, which hurt Russia's national pride quite painfully.
MAY
On May 16, Ukrainian defenders of the giant Azovstal steelworks, the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol, agreed to surrender to Russian forces after a nearly three-month siege.
The fall of Mariupol cut off Ukraine from the Azov coast and provided a land corridor from the Russian border to Crimea.
On May 18, Finland and Sweden submitted applications to join NATO, a major blow to Moscow over the expansion of the military alliance.
JUNE
Western weapons were increasingly arriving in Ukraine, including US-supplied HYMARS multiple-launch rocket launchers.
On June 30, Russian troops withdrew from Snake Island off the Black Sea port of Odessa, captured in the early days of the invasion.
JULY
On July 22, Russia and Ukraine, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, agreed to release supplies of grain stuck in Ukrainian Black Sea ports, ending a standoff threatening global food security.
On July 29, a rocket strike hit a prison in the Russian-held eastern town of Olenovka, where Ukrainian soldiers captured in Mariupol were being held, killing at least 53 people.
Ukraine and Russia have traded blame for the attack.
AUGUST
Pope Francis has again called for a ceasefire in Ukraine
On August 9, powerful explosions struck an air base in Crimea.
A week later, more blasts hit an electrical substation and ammunition depots there, signaling the vulnerability of Moscow's annexed Black Sea peninsula, used by Russia as a major wartime supply hub.
Ukraine's top military officer later admitted that the attacks in Crimea were carried out by Kiev forces.
On August 20, Darya Dugina, daughter of Russian nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, died in a car bomb explosion outside Moscow that Russian authorities blame on Ukraine.
SEPTEMBER
On September 6, Ukrainian forces launched a surprise counteroffensive in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast, quickly forcing Russia to withdraw from large areas it had controlled for months.
On September 21, Putin ordered the mobilization of 300,000 reservists, an unpopular move that prompted hundreds of thousands of Russian men to flee to neighboring countries to avoid conscription.
At the same time, Russia hastily organized illegal "referendums" in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia on whether to become part of Russia.
Ukraine and the West dismissed these "referendums" as a forgery.
On September 30, Putin signed the annexation documents for the four regions at a ceremony in the Kremlin.
OCTOBER
On October 8, a truck loaded with explosives detonated on the bridge connecting Crimea with mainland Russia, which Putin blamed on Ukraine.
Russia responded with missile strikes on Ukraine's power plants and other key infrastructure.
After the first wave of attacks on 10 October, attacks continued and became more regular in the following months, leading to blackouts and a nationwide blackout.
NOVEMBER
On November 9, Russia announced a withdrawal from the city of Kherson amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive, abandoning the only regional center Moscow had captured in a humiliating retreat for the Kremlin.
DECEMBER
On December 5, the Russian military said Ukraine used drones to attack two long-range bomber bases deep inside Russian territory.
Another strike came later in the month that underscored Ukraine's willingness to raise the stakes and exposed gaps in Russian defenses.
On December 21, Zelensky visited the United States on his first trip abroad since the beginning of the war, meeting with President Joe Biden
Joe Biden (Joseph Robin Biden) is an American politician.Joe Biden was born on November 20, 1942 in to provide Patriot air defense missile systems and other weapons, and to speak to Congress.
THE YEAR 2023
JANUARY
On January 1, minutes after the new year, dozens of newly mobilized Russian soldiers were killed by a Ukrainian missile strike on the town of Makeevka.
Russia's defense ministry said 89 soldiers were killed, while Ukrainian officials put the death toll in the hundreds.
After months of fierce fighting, on January 12 Russia announced the capture of the city of Soledar, although Kiev did not recognize it for several days.
Moscow also intensified its offensive to capture the Ukrainian fortress - the city of Bakhmut.
On January 14, as Russia launched another wave of strikes on Ukraine's energy facilities, a Russian missile struck a residential building in the city of Dnipro, killing 45 people.
FEBRUARY
On February 20, US President Joe Biden
Joe Biden (Joseph Robin Biden) is an American politician. Joe Biden was born on November 20, 1942 in made a surprise visit to Kiev, where he met with the Ukrainian president in a remarkable and challenging show of solidarity.
Russian invasion of Ukraine
Vladimir Putin
Pope Francisc
Volodymyr Zelensky
Joe Biden