The main developments since the start three months ago of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has already claimed tens of thousands of lives.
• Read also: Over 320 Ukrainians fleeing war land in Winnipeg
• Read also: Russian soldier tried for war crime sentenced to life in prison
• Read also: Convicted Russian soldier: a sword in the water?
Le February 24President Vladimir Putin announces a “military operation” to defend the separatist “republics” of the Donbass in eastern Ukraine, whose independence he has just recognized.
Russian ground forces enter Ukrainian territory.
Le 26the Russian army is ordered to expand its offensive.
The European Union announces the purchase and delivery of arms to Ukraine, a first. The West is inflicting increasingly severe economic sanctions on Russia.
Le 28Moscow and Kyiv start talks.
Vladimir Putin demands the recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, a “neutral status” for Ukraine and its “denazification”. Moscow has wanted for several months the guarantee that Kyiv will never enter NATO.
Le 2 mars, Russian troops arrive in Kharkiv (north), the second largest city in the country. To the south, Kherson, near Crimea, fell into Russian hands.
Le 8US President Joe Biden decrees an embargo on Russian gas and oil.
Le 10the leaders of the 27 exclude a rapid accession of Ukraine to the EU, demanded by President Volodymyr Zelensky, while opening the door to closer ties.
Le 21Brussels denounces “a major war crime” in Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov.
Tens of thousands of people are stuck there. A maternity hospital, then a theater where civilians are sheltering are bombarded.
Le 24NATO decides to equip Ukraine against the chemical and nuclear threat and strengthens its defenses on its eastern flank.
The next day, Moscow announced that it was concentrating on “liberating Donbass”.
AFP
Le 2 avrilUkraine announces that it has regained control of the Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian forces which are converging towards the East and the South.
In several localities near Kyiv, including Boucha, the discovery of dozens of corpses provoked strong international reactions.
Le 8a strike on Kramatorsk station (east) kills at least 57 people.
Le 14, the Ukrainians claim to have hit the cruiser Moskva, flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, with missiles. According to Moscow, the building sank after a fire caused by the explosion of ammunition.
Le 21Vladimir Putin claims the takeover of Mariupol but some 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers, entrenched in the Azovstal factory with a thousand civilians, are still resisting.
Le 27the Ukrainian army recognizes a Russian advance in the East, with the capture of several localities in the Kharkiv region and the Donbass.
Le May 3Russian and pro-Russian forces launch a “powerful assault” on the Azovstal steel plant.
Le 8sixty people are missing after the shelling in the Lugansk region of a school.
Le 18Sweden and Finland submit their applications to join NATO.
Le 19, the US Congress releases 40 billion dollars to support the Ukrainian war effort. The next day, the G7 promises 19.8 billion dollars to help Kyiv.
Le 20, Moscow announces control of Azovstal. According to Kyiv, Mariupol is 90% destroyed and at least 20,000 people have died there.
To the east, the towns of Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk constitute the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the Lugansk region.
Le 23a Russian soldier is sentenced in Kyiv to life imprisonment in the first trial for war crimes since the start of the invasion.