February 24, 2022
In the morning, Russia launched an attack from five directions. Ground and airborne troops advanced from Belarus on Kyiv, from Russia on Kharkiv, from the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on the Donbas. From Crimea came the assault on Zaporizhzhia and Kherson and the attempted landing in Odesa. Airfields, command posts, air defence systems and warehouses became targets of missile attacks and air strikes.

February 2022
The biggest battle of the first day of the war was fought over the Hostomel airfield near Kyiv. The aggressors failed to capture and turn it into a forward base for Kyiv. Within several days, Russian troops had penetrated 100 km north, south and east. They quickly occupied the Kherson and Melitopol regions. Mariupol on the Sea of Azov became a stronghold, for which fighting continued until May 20.

February 25 - March 7, 2022
Kyiv was shelled from the first minutes of the war. Russian ground and aeromobile troops reached the suburbs within a few days. The towns of Bucha, Irpin, Borodianka were destroyed and some of the inhabitants slaughtered. The eastern approach was defended by an armoured brigade from Chernihiv, but the Russians broke through at Brovary and Boryspil. The offensive stalled in March, 20 km from the centre of the capital.

March 2022
As the offensive on Kyiv bogged down and Ukraine's counterattacks became increasingly effective, Russia ordered a retreat on March 29. Moscow then announced that it wanted to occupy the Donbas. After regrouping, a new offensive was launched in early April. The main target of the attack was Izium, followed by Sievierodonetsk. According to Kyiv, 15,000 Russians were killed in the first month of the war.

April - July 2022
Following the successful Russian offensive, in late June/early July, Ukraine surrendered Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in eastern Donbas. The defence shifted to Bakhmut, but Russia was unable to occupy new areas in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. The fighting took on a positional character. From July onwards, Ukraine began to use long-range missiles and drones to attack the Russian army's rear.

August - September 2022
From late August, Ukraine stepped up pressure on the Russians in the south and north Donbas. The Ukrainian army prepared a counter-attack at Kherson, but first struck the Russian flank east of Kharkiv. Within two weeks in September, it had pushed the aggressor beyond the Oskil River and continued its march eastwards. It encountered stronger resistance at Kreminna, where the battle continues to this day.

October 2022
In the second half of September, the Ukrainians broke in between the Dnieper and Inhulets rivers, partially encircling the Russians in the Kherson region. At the same time, they destroyed crossings on the Dnieper with HIMARS rockets, threatening to cut off forces on the right bank from supplies. The commander, General Sergey Surovikin, appointed in October, announced the retreat of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnieper on November 10.

October 2022 - January 2023
In October, Russia began systematic bombing of the energy and heating infrastructure of Ukrainian cities. It used kamikaze drones bought from Iran and older, off-target missiles. The attacks were repeated weekly and then every few weeks. Following the strengthening of Ukraine's air defences, the initially disruptive power grid shutdowns have become less severe.

February 2023
At the beginning of February, Russia launched a new offensive, attacking from several directions. In the north, it is attempting to push the Ukrainians out of the Luhansk region, beyond the Oskil River, to the east to encircle Bakhmut and in the south to penetrate deep into the Donbas through Vuhledar near Donetsk. The offensive has so far been unsuccessful but it starts a new phase of the war, which is being described as decisive.