\n President Vladimir Putin launched the biggest attack on a European country since World War II when he ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine on February 24.\n<\/p>\n
\n Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the 11-month-old war, which looked set to enter a new stage on Wednesday with Germany and the United States's decision to send Kyiv powerful tanks.\n<\/p>\n
\n Here is a timeline of the main developments:\n<\/p>\n
\n - February 2022: invasion -\n<\/p>\n
\n Putin announces a \"special military operation\" in Ukraine on February 24, saying he wants to demilitarise and \"de-Nazify\" the country as well as protect the predominantly Russian-speaking east from \"genocide\".\n<\/p>\n
\n A full-scale invasion starts, with missile strikes on several Ukrainian cities that sparks a refugee crisis.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stays in the capital Kyiv to lead the resistance.\n<\/p>\n
\n The West imposes unprecedented sanctions on Russia and the European Union and United States send Ukraine weapons and aid.\n<\/p>\n
\n - March: advances in south but Kyiv holds -\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian forces make gains in the south, seizing the city of Kherson, close to the Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian forces also attempt to surround Kyiv and take Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv in the northeast but meet fierce resistance.\n<\/p>\n
\n A month into the fighting, Russia withdraws from the north to focus on the eastern industrial Donbas region, partly held by Russian-backed separatists, along with the south.\n<\/p>\n
\n - April: war crimes revealed -\n<\/p>\n
\n In early April, AFP discovers the bodies of at least 20 civilians lying on a single street in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha -- the first of several grisly discoveries in towns that Russian forces had occupied which spark an international outcry and war crimes investigations.\n<\/p>\n
\n - May: Mariupol falls -\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 21, Russia announces the fall of the southeastern port city of Mariupol, which had been relentlessly bombed, after the last Ukrainian troops holding out at a steelworks surrender.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sweden and Finland request membership of NATO, fearing they could be future targets of Russian aggression.\n<\/p>\n
\n - June: Donbas battle rages -\n<\/p>\n
\n In June, Russia takes the Donbas city of Severodonetsk after one of the bloodiest battles of the war, followed soon after by the neighbouring city of Lysychansk.\n<\/p>\n
\n - July: gas supplies cut -\n<\/p>\n
\n On July 22, Kyiv and Moscow sign a deal to resume grain exports from Ukraine, in a bid to relieve a food crisis aggravated by Russia's blockade of the country's ports.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian gas giant Gazprom slashes its supply to Europe through the Nord Stream pipeline, fuelling fears of gas shortages in Europe.\n<\/p>\n
\n - August: battle for Bakhmut -\n<\/p>\n
\n Kyiv launches a major offensive to retake Kherson as a major battle begins for the eastern town of Bakhmut, spearheaded on the Russian side by the Wagner mercenary group.\n<\/p>\n
\n - September: annexation -\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukraine retakes hundreds of towns and villages in a lightning counter-offensive around Kharkiv.\n<\/p>\n
\n Putin launches a partial draft of 300,000 reservists, sparking an exodus of young Russian men of military age.\n<\/p>\n
\n On September 30, he formally annexes the Ukrainian regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.\n<\/p>\n
\n - October: power supply hit -\n<\/p>\n
\n On October 8, an explosion causes major damage to a bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland -- a symbol of Moscow's annexation of the peninsula.\n<\/p>\n
\n Putin blames Ukrainian secret services for the attack.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian forces retaliate with a barrage of strikes on energy infrastructure in Kyiv and other cities, leaving millions without power in what becomes its new modus operandi throughout the winter.\n<\/p>\n
\n - November: retreat from Kherson -\n<\/p>\n
\n On November 9, Moscow orders its troops to retreat from Kherson in the face of advancing Ukrainian forces, marking a stunning defeat in one of the regions it annexed. Jubilant residents hail Ukrainian forces as liberators.\n<\/p>\n
\n - December: Zelensky goes to Washington -\n<\/p>\n
\n On December 22, Zelensky visits Washington on his first overseas trip since the war began. He meets President Joe Biden and addresses Congress.\n<\/p>\n
\n - January 2023: tanks on the way -\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia suffers its biggest single loss of life since the invasion in a Ukrainian attack on a temporary base in the eastern town of Makiivka on January 1.\n<\/p>\n
\n Moscow says 89 soldiers were killed in the hit.\n<\/p>\n
\n On January 25, Germany finally agrees to send Ukraine some of its powerful Leopard tanks.\n<\/p>\n
\n Moscow's ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechaev, warns that the \"extremely dangerous decision takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The United States follows, announcing that it will provide 31 Abrams tanks. Biden says the delivery poses no \"offensive\" threat to Russia.\n<\/p>\n
\n Norway also says it will send Leopard 2 battle tanks.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Ukrainian presidency says the Western tanks \"will determine our future victory\".\n<\/p>\n
\n On the same day, Ukraine admits to AFP that it has pulled out of Soledar near Bakhmut, two weeks after Russia announced it had \"liberated\" the mining town.\n<\/p>\n
\n doc-cb\/jmy\/mw\/kjm\n<\/p>\n
\n APRIL\n<\/p>\n
\n GAZPROM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Vladimir Putin launched the biggest attack on a European country since World War II when he ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine on February 24. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the 11-month-old war, which looked set to enter a new stage on Wednesday with Germany and the United States's decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-111576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n