\n Key developments since Russia's invasion of Ukraine three months ago, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Start of invasion-\n<\/p>\n
\n On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces the start of a \"special military operation\" to defend the mainly Russian-speaking separatist \"republics\" of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, days after having recognised their independence.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian troops cross into Ukrainian territory.\n<\/p>\n
\n On February 26, the Russian army receives orders to widen its offensive.\n<\/p>\n
\n The European Union announces the purchase and delivery of arms for Ukraine. Western nations agree on the first round of economic sanctions against Moscow.\n<\/p>\n
\n - First negotiations -\n<\/p>\n
\n On February 28, Moscow and Kyiv delegations start a first round of peace talks.\n<\/p>\n
\n Putin demands recognition of the previously annexed Crimean peninsula as Russian territory, \"neutral\" status for Ukraine and the country's \"denazification\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Moscow has for months been seeking guarantees that Kyiv will never join the western NATO military alliance.\n<\/p>\n
\n On March 2, Russian troops reach Kharkiv, in the north, Ukraine's second city, and capture Kherson, to the south and gateway to the Crimea.\n<\/p>\n
\n On March 8, US President Joe Biden decrees an embargo on Russian gas and oil.\n<\/p>\n
\n Two days later, EU leaders rule out swift membership of the bloc for Ukraine sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky but open the door to closer links.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Mariupol besieged -\n<\/p>\n
\n On March 21, Brussels denounces \"a major war crime\" after Russian forces besieging the strategic port of Mariupol, bombard a maternity hospital and a theatre sheltering civilians. Thousands of residents are trapped in the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n On March 24, NATO decides to send equipment to Ukraine to mitigate the effects of a chemical or nuclear attack. It shores up defences on its eastern flank.\n<\/p>\n
\n The following day, Moscow announces it will focus on the \"liberation of the Donbas\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - Horror in Bucha -\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 2, Ukraine announces it has regained control of the Kyiv region after Russian troops pull back to the east and south.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukrainian forces find dozens of corpses in towns near Kyiv, notably Bucha to the northwest, provoking an international outcry.\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 8, at least 57 people are killed when railway station in the eastern town of Kramatorsk is shelled.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Russian cruiser sunk -\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 12, Ukraine say they have hit Russia's Black Sea flagship the Moskva with two R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles. Moscow says it sank following an on-board fire caused by exploding munitions.\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 21, Putin says Russian forces have taken control of Mariupol, but some 2,000 soldiers are holding out at the city's Azovstal steelworks, along with around 1,000 civilians.\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 27, the Ukrainian army acknowledges a Russian breakthrough in the east, in the Kharkiv region and in the Donbas.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Sweden, Finland look to NATO -\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 3, Russian and pro-Russian forces launch a major assault on the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 8, some 60 people are reported missing after the shelling of a school in the Lugansk region.\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 18, Sweden and Finland apply to join NATO.\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 19, the US Congress approves a $40-billion aid package for Ukraine's war effort. The G7 pledges $19.8 billion the following day.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Azovstal under Russian control -\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 20, Moscow says its forces control the Azovstal steelworks. Kyiv says Mariupol is 90-percent destroyed and that at least 20,000 people have been killed there.\n<\/p>\n
\n The eastern towns of Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk are the last remaining pockets of Ukrainian resistance in the Lugansk region.\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 23, a Kyiv court hands down a life sentence to a young Russian soldier in the conflict's first war crimes trial.\n<\/p>\n
\n doc-kd-ao-ang\/cdw\/jj<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Key developments since Russia's invasion of Ukraine three months ago, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. - Start of invasion- On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces the start of a \"special military operation\" to defend the mainly Russian-speaking separatist \"republics\" of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, days […]<\/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-92773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n