On the eve of the second anniversary of the war, the Russian army declared its greatest victory since Bakhmut (file photo)
Paris:
On February 28, 2014, a pro-EU revolution broke out in Ukraine. Russia sent armed soldiers without insignia – known as “little green men” – to take over the Crimean Peninsula. Since then, Ukraine has been involved in a struggle for freedom. A battle of life and death. Kyiv.
The annexation of Crimea marked the beginning of a decade of Russian aggression against its former Soviet neighbor.
AFP looks back at key moments of Ukraine’s struggle:
2014: Crimea annexed, war breaks out in eastern Ukraine
In March 2014, after weeks of mass protests, Ukrainians ousted Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych for violating an agreement to develop closer ties with the European Union .
Russia retaliated by occupying Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
The following month, pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbas region bordering Russia took up arms against Kiev.
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of providing weapons, troops and military advisers to the separatists, which Moscow initially denied.
On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made missile over rebel-controlled Ukrainian territory, killing all 298 people on board, most of whom were Dutch citizens.
2015: Peace Agreement
The first ceasefire agreement in September 2014 collapsed within days.
The second agreement, negotiated in February 2015 in the Belarusian capital of Minsk by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, proved more effective.
The fighting subsided, but sporadic clashes continued in frontline areas.
2019: Zelensky brings détente
In May 2019, TV comedian Vladimir Zelensky became president.
He has made ending the war, which has killed about 14,000 people on both sides, a top priority and held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris.
A new ceasefire agreed in July 2020 ushered in several months of relative calm.
2021: The drums are beating
In 2021, the fighting in eastern Ukraine intensified again.
Tensions over the invasion arose after Putin wrote a 7,000-word essay in July titled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.”
According to Western estimates, panic reached its peak last December when Russia began large-scale land, sea and air military exercises on Ukraine’s eastern, northern and southern borders, massing 150,000 troops.
Moscow denies any plans to attack Ukraine.
February 2022: Invasion and Resistance
At dawn on February 24, 2022, when Putin announced a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine, Ukraine’s fears became a reality.
Missiles began raining down on Ukrainian cities, and Russian tanks rumbled across the border.
A defiant Zelensky remained in Kiev to lead the resistance.
Russian forces made early gains in the south, capturing the Black Sea port of Kherson near Crimea.
But their expectations of a quick victory were quickly dashed in the face of fierce resistance around Kiev and Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city in northeastern Ukraine.
A month later, Russia was forced to retreat from the north, focusing on the south coast and the Donbas region, parts of which have been controlled by separatists since 2014.
April 2022: Horror scenes
As the Russians withdrew from the outskirts of Kiev, they left behind a scene of horror.
In early April, AFP discovered the bodies of at least 20 civilians on a street in the previously Russian-occupied city of Butcha near Kiev.
It was the first of several horrific discoveries about Russia’s war crimes that brought the world’s attention.
After a brutal three-month siege, Moscow declared the southeastern port city of Mariupol destroyed.
November 2022: Ukraine strikes back
In the summer of 2022, a fierce battle began in the eastern town of Bahmut, led by the Wagner mercenary group on the Russian side.
Putin annexed the eastern regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye but did not fully control them.
Ukrainian troops successfully recaptured the city of Kherson in November 2022.
In May 2023, Russia conquered Bakmut, becoming the victor in the longest and bloodiest war to date.
Summer 2023: Counterattack fails
In early 2023, Ukraine began stockpiling more powerful weapons for a large-scale counteroffensive.
Germany agreed to Zelensky’s request to purchase top-of-the-line Panther tanks, and the United States sent the powerful HIMARS mobile artillery system and other weapons.
In June, Ukraine launched its long-awaited counterattack.
But months have passed and little has changed on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front.
U.S. support for the war effort in Ukraine is beginning to wane, and friction is emerging among EU member states.
In February 2024, on the eve of the second anniversary of the war, the Russian army achieved its greatest victory since the Battle of Buckmut. They captured the eastern town of Avdivka, which was the target of a long, scorched-earth battle.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
