Russia's war in Ukraine: A timeline in pictures

On the morning of February 24, 2022, many Ukrainians woke up to explosions like these in the capital, Kyiv. Russia had launched a full-scale invasion, marking the biggest attack by one state against another since World War II. Ukraine immediately declared martial law. Civil structures were targeted, and the first deaths were reported soon after.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of a "special military operation," and said he aimed to capture the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Residents of the city of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast took shelter in basements for weeks. Many died under rubble. A Russian airstrike on a theater where hundreds of people had taken refuge in March has been condemned by human rights groups.

The war in Ukraine has caused a rate of forced emigration unseen in Europe since World War II. According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 8 million people have fled the country. Poland alone has taken in 1.5 million people, more than any other EU state. Millions of people, primarily from eastern and southern Ukraine, were forced to flee.

After just a few weeks, the Ukrainian army managed to drive Russian military forces from areas in the north and northeast of the country. Russia's plan to besiege the capital, Kyiv, failed. After the regions were freed, the extent of alleged Russian atrocities became apparent. Images of tortured and murdered civilians in Bucha, near Kyiv, went around the world. Officials reported 461 deaths.

The number of civilian victims in Donbas increased rapidly. Officials told the civilian population to retreat to safer areas, but Russian missiles also targeted people as they attempted to escape, including in Kramatorsk. More than 61 were killed and 120 injured at the city's railway station in April, as thousands were hoping to reach safety.

During Russian aerial attacks, millions of Ukrainians have sought refuge in shelters of some kind. For people close to the front lines within artillery range, basements have become like second homes. Residents of big cities have also sought shelter from the missiles. In Kyiv (as seen above) and Kharkiv, subway stations have double as safe havens.

In the first weeks after the invasion, Russia occupied a large area of the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, including near Kyiv. Fighting spilled over on to the premises of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the southeast, which has been under Russian control ever since. The International Atomic Energy Agency sent experts to the plant and called for a safe zone around the area.

The Russian army held Mariupol under siege for three months, preventing shipments of ammunition and other supplies. The Asovstal steel plant was seen as the last Ukrainian stronghold in the city, sheltering thousands of soldiers and civilians. After an extended attack last May, thousands of Russian soldiers took control of the plant, capturing more than 2,000 people in the process.

Russia conquered Snake Island in the Black Sea on the first day of the war. A conversation between Ukrainian and Russian service members, during which the Ukrainians refused to surrender, went viral online. In April, the Ukrainians claimed to have sunk the Russian warship Moskva, one of two vessels involved in the attack on the island. In June, Ukraine said it had driven Russians off the island.

The war's exact death toll remains unclear. According to the UN, at least 7,200 civilians have been killed and another 12,000 wounded — and the numbers could much higher. The exact number of Ukrainian soldiers killed is also uncertain. In December, Ukraine's presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak estimated the number as being up to 13,000. Impartial statistics aren't available.

The delivery of Western weapons to Ukraine has been a hot topic since the early days of the war, but Kyiv received few of them at first. The US-manufactured HIMARS rocket launchers were a definite help. They have allowed the Ukrainian military to cut off the ammunition resupply to Russian artillery, and have likely also contributed to Ukraine's successful counteroffensives.

At the start of September, the Ukrainian military conducted a successful counteroffensive in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The surprised Russians quickly retreated, leaving equipment, ammunition and even evidence of alleged war crimes behind. The Ukrainian military was also able to liberate Kherson in the south, and its residents cheered at the arrival of Ukrainian soldiers.

At the beginning of October, a massive explosion occurred on the bridge Russia built across the Kerch Strait to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it has occupied since 2014. The bridge was partially destroyed. Russia claims an explosives-laden truck from Ukraine caused the damage, but officials in Kyiv have not claimed responsibility for any attack.

A few days after the blast on the Crimean bridge, Russia carried out its first large-scale assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Power outages occurred in regions from Lviv to Kharkiv. Since then, such attacks have become common. Due to the enormous damage to power plants and other civil infrastructure, people in Ukraine have endured power outages and water shortages almost daily.

Daily video messages from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he reports on the state of the country and the ongoing war, are viewed by millions of people. Zelenskyy hasn't only been able to unify his country's population, but has also gained Western support. European integration has progressed greatly under his leadership, and Ukraine is now on the path to EU membership.

How well Ukraine can fend off Russian attacks depends greatly on the aid the country receives. A US-led group of countries has offered a billion-dollar package of humanitarian, financial and military aid. Shipping heavy artillery was hotly debated in the West, largely due to concerns about reaction from Russia. But Ukraine will end up receiving Western tanks, most of them German-made Leopard 2s.

For months, fierce battles have been raging over Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Since Ukrainian troops lost control of the nearby settlement of Soledar in early 2023, defending the city has become even harder. In January, Germany's secret service reported daily losses in three figures on the Ukrainian side. But the Russian death toll is believed to be even higher.