\n Here is a timeline of the main events since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago on February 24, 2022.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Invasion -\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a \"special military operation\" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, saying he wants to \"de-Nazify\" the country.\n<\/p>\n
\n Moscow launches its full-scale invasion with missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.\n<\/p>\n
\n The invasion sparks Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.\n<\/p>\n
\n The West imposes unprecedented sanctions on Russia. The European Union and United States send Ukraine weapons and aid.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukraine repels Russian forces advancing on the capital, Kyiv.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia captures swathes of territory in the south and east.\n<\/p>\n
\n - War crimes -\n<\/p>\n
\n In early April 2022, AFP witnesses the bodies of at least 20 civilians on a street in the Kyiv's Bucha suburb.\n<\/p>\n
\n It is the first in a string of macabre discoveries in towns abandoned by Russian forces which spark an international outcry and war crimes investigations. Moscow denies responsibility.\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 21, 2022, Russia takes the southeastern port city of Mariupol, which has been relentlessly bombed, after the last Ukrainian troops holding out at a steelworks surrender.\n<\/p>\n
\n In September 2022, Russia announces a \"partial mobilisation\" drive, forcibly drafting some 300,000 men to replenish the ranks of its army after weeks of setbacks.\n<\/p>\n
\n On September 30, Putin annexes the Ukrainian regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Wagner rebellion -\n<\/p>\n
\n On June 24, 2023, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leads a mutiny to bring down Moscow's top military brass but retreats following mediation via Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.\n<\/p>\n
\n Prigozhin dies two months later in a mysterious plane crash.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Ukrainian counteroffensive fails -\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukraine's counter-offensive, launched in June 2023, fails. On February 17, 2024, Russian forces capture the eastern industrial town of Avdiivka after an onslaught which began in October.\n<\/p>\n
\n In April 2024, Russia pounds energy facilities across Ukraine, in what Putin says is partly a response to Kyiv targeting Russia's oil refineries\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 23, Washington approves a long-delayed $61-billion aid package for Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Russian offensive -\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 10, 2024, Russian forces launch a surprise ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, capturing several villages. Ukraine sends reinforcements.\n<\/p>\n
\n - G7 and peace summit -\n<\/p>\n
\n G7 leaders agree on June 13 in Italy on a new $50-billion loan for Ukraine using profits from frozen Russian assets.\n<\/p>\n
\n On June 17, dozens of world leaders back Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity at a summit in Switzerland.\n<\/p>\n
\n On July 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Russia, not invited to the first meeting, should be represented at a second summit.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Ukrainian incursion -\n<\/p>\n
\n As long-awaited US-made F-16 fighter jets start to arrive, Ukrainian forces launch a surprise incursion into Russia's western Kursk region on August 6.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kyiv says its army will create a buffer zone in the area and aims to persuade Russia into \"fair\" negotiations.\n<\/p>\n
\n In late August and early September, Russia makes a string of deadly strikes on Ukrainian territory and makes new advances in the Donbass, in the east.\n<\/p>\n
\n - North Korean reinforcements -\n<\/p>\n
\n In October 2024, Seoul, Kyiv and Washington say more than 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to support Russia's army fighting in the Kursk region.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Long-range missiles, escalation -\n<\/p>\n
\n On October 29, 2024, Ukraine announces plans to mobilise an extra 160,000 soldiers, faced with advancing Russian troops.\n<\/p>\n
\n On the 1,000th day of the invasion, on November 19, Ukraine uses Western-supplied long-range missiles against Russian territory for the first time after obtaining US and British clearance.\n<\/p>\n
\n Putin targets Ukraine with Russia's new hypersonic missile, nicknamed Oreshnik, without a nuclear warhead.\n<\/p>\n
\n Putin warns of the possibility of a world conflict and says Russia has all the options on the table.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Trump: gamechanger -\n<\/p>\n
\n Weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House, Joe Biden ramps up announcements of military aid to Kyiv.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia claims new gains in eastern Ukraine and Moscow carries out several massive missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.\n<\/p>\n
\n Shortly after Trump is sworn in as US president, he creates shock by saying he and Putin have agreed to start \"immediate\" talks on ending the Ukraine conflict, following a phone call on February 12.\n<\/p>\n
\n Washington says Ukraine's ambition to join NATO and to return to its pre-2014 borders, before the Russian annexation of Crimea, are unrealistic.\n<\/p>\n
\n On February 16, the US president says he could meet Putin in Saudi Arabia \"very soon\", adding that he believes his Russian counterpart genuinely wants to stop fighting in Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n The US initiatives worry the EU, which fears being shut out of events happening on its doorstep.\n<\/p>\n
\n Zelensky urges his European allies to avoid accepting an accord struck by the US behind the backs of Kyiv and Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is a timeline of the main events since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago on February 24, 2022. - Invasion - Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a \"special military operation\" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, saying he wants to \"de-Nazify\" the country. Moscow launches its full-scale invasion with missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. […]<\/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-118507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n