KYIV, Ukraine
Russia invaded Ukraine in the
early hours of February 24 this year, setting off the worst conflict in Europe
in decades.
We look back on a fortnight
which has shaken the world.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin announces a "special military operation" to "demilitarise
and de-nazify" Ukraine and support Moscow-backed separatists in the east.
A full-scale invasion starts
with air and missile strikes on several cities.
Ukrainian forces put up
stronger-than-expected resistance, frustrating Russian plans for a lightning
takeover.
President Volodymyr Zelensky
vows to stay put and lead the resistance.
With his troops getting bogged
down, Putin puts Russia's nuclear forces on high alert on February 27.
The West weighs in with
unprecedented sanctions and military aid for Ukraine the same day.
Air spaces are closed to
Russian aircraft and Russia is kicked out of one sporting and cultural event
after another, including the World Cup. Major companies start to shut up shop
in Russia.
The invasion also sparks a
radical rethink in German defence policy, with Berlin massively hiking military
spending.
During the first talks between
Kyiv and Moscow on February 28, Russian rockets pound civilian areas of
Ukraine's second city Kharkiv. Zelensky makes an impassioned appeal for
"immediate" EU membership.
The indiscriminate shelling
seen in Kharkiv becomes all too common elsewhere.
As sanctions bite and some
Russian oligarchs call for peace, the ruble collapses.
On March 1, satellite images
show a massive Russian column bearing down on Kyiv. But it makes slow progress.
Russian troops have far more
success in the south, where the same day they lay siege to the strategic port
of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. Moscow is close to linking up its forces in
separatist Donetsk with Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Oil prices soar to record
levels.
On March 3, a week after the
offensive began, Kherson becomes the first city to fall to the Russians, with
forces based in Crimea pushing onwards towards Ukraine's main port, Odessa, on
the Black Sea close to the Moldovan and Romanian borders.
As civilian casualties mount,
and hundreds of thousands a day flee the country, the UN General Assembly
overwhelmingly demands Russia withdraws "immediately".
On March 4, Russian troops
take over Europe's biggest nuclear power station at Zaporizhzhia after shelling
part of it.
The same day Russia begins to
block Western news sites and broadcasters, with the last of its own independent
media closing amid the threat of 15-year jail sentences for "fake
news" about the war.
Many international media
organisations also suspend their coverage from Russia.
More than 13,500 Russians are
arrested across the country for protesting against the war.
On Tuesday the Red Cross
describes the situation in besieged Mariupol as "apocalyptic", with
hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the shelling for eight days
without water, heat or power.Russia bombs the weakest members of society, the pregnant women and their newborns
The next day a 12-hour
ceasefire is agreed to allow civilians to flee from six areas that have
suffered heavy Russian bombardment.
Russia accuses the US on
Wednesday of "declaring economic war" after it bans imports of
Russian oil and gas, with the EU cutting two-thirds of its gas imports.
The Pentagon rejects a Polish
offer to give its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Zelensky, whose calls for a
NATO no-fly zone to protect his cities have fallen on deaf ears, pleads with
Washington for airpower as lawmakers vote on a $14 billion aid package.
By Thursday, some 2.2 million
people have fled the fighting. - AFP
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