BackOne year of Russia-Ukraine war: A timeline of key moments so far
The Russia-Ukraine conflict marks its first anniversary on February 24, 2023.
PremiumOn both sides, there have been tens of thousands of civilian deaths and injuries, millions of internal or external displacements and devastations in cities and towns. As the Russia-Ukraine conflict marks its first anniversary on February 24, 2023, here is a timeline of what happened so far.
February 2022 - July 2022
On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a "special military operation", ordering tens of thousands of Russian troops into neighbouring Ukraine from the north, east and south. The Russian forces hoped for a swift victory and moved towards Kyiv, but eventually, they were forced to retreat.
As a result of the conflict, neighbouring countries and the EU prepared to open their borders to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the violence. Men of conscription age were prevented from leaving the country, but queues at border crossings stretched for several kilometres.
Western nations imposed widespread sanctions on Moscow, including stopping transactions with Russia's central bank, banning new investment, and freezing the assets of Russian political and business leaders. UN investigators subsequently reported that some of the killings, most notoriously in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, may amount to war crimes.
Russia was forced to scale back its war goals following stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces, and it switched focus to the Donbas region where Moscow-backed separatists launched a rebellion in 2014. The conflict escalated the global food crisis, and Ukraine's government announced a ban on a wide range of agricultural exports, causing world food prices to reach a record high in March.
The conflict caused many casualties, including dozens of people killed in a missile strike on a train station in Kramatorsk. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on countries to help set up a fund to rebuild his country.
Russia captured the strategic Black Sea port city of Mariupol, following a three-month siege, which the Red Cross described as "Hell". Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russian missiles struck a crowded shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk, killing at least 16 people. The World Bank approved $1.49 billion in additional financing to help pay the wages of public sector workers, increasing the bank's total pledged support, aided by donor countries, to more than $4 billion.
Russian forces captured the city of Lysychansk, completing the conquest of Luhansk province in Eastern Ukraine. Russian energy giant Gazprom announced it would halve gas supplies to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Prior to the war, Europe imported more than 40% of its gas from Russia.
Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a deal to re-open Ukraine's Black Sea ports, which had been blockaded by the Russian navy. There were hopes that the breakthrough would ease the global food crisis.
August 2022 - February 2023
In August 2022, Ukrainian forces launched a counter-offensive in Kherson, the only land gateway to Crimea, targeting Russian supply lines, ammunition dumps, and an air base in Crimea. European gas prices spiked by 30% after Russia announced that its main gas supply pipeline to Europe would remain closed indefinitely. Ukraine also launched a counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region, recapturing a key rail hub supplying the Russian frontline. In response, Vladimir Putin ordered the partial mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists, sparking an exodus of military-age men trying to cross the border into neighbouring countries.
Putin announced that regions of eastern Ukraine would become part of Russia following local “referendums". The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, condemned the decision and called the Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia facility in Ukraine “suicidal." An explosion badly damaged the only bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula, and Russia retaliated with missile strikes on Kyiv. Ukrainian energy infrastructure was targeted in more missile strikes, causing widespread power cuts and a UNICEF report indicating that an additional four million children had been plunged into poverty because of the war.
Russia eventually ordered its forces to abandon Kherson, the only regional capital it had captured so far, and the EU looked at ways to increase help for Ukraine’s energy sector following “cruel and inhumane" attacks. External power was restored to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and President Zelenskyy addressed the US Congress, saying aid to Ukraine was an investment in democracy. On Christmas Day, Putin announced that Russia was ready to negotiate over Ukraine, but Kyiv said Moscow wasn’t serious about talks and vowed to remove every Russian soldier from its territory.
Reinforced by recruits, Russian forces captured the salt-mining town of Soledar in eastern Donetsk province and focused on the strategic town of Bakhmut, key to the prized Donbas region. The Food and Agriculture Organization reported that its food price index reached a record high in 2022, up by 14.3% from 2021, and the World Bank warned that the global economy could slip into recession in 2023. Western countries considered imposing new sanctions against Russia, and experts estimated that lost European sales could halve the export revenues of Russian energy giant Gazprom in 2023.
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