Two years of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine: what it was like

February 24 2024, is exactly two years since the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Review decided to reproduce the chronology of events during this time.

When it all started

It is worth noting that Russian aggression continued long before February 2022: in 2014, Russia illegally occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

In the same year, units of Russian special forces and other armed formations seized local authorities, police stations, and military facilities of Ukraine in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

«Many military experts will tell you that the war began in 2014 or 2022. But in reality, the war started much earlier. It was also necessary to monitor Yeltsin’s statements, which showed a desire to own Ukraine, and when the Black Sea Fleet was divided (in 1993, an agreement was signed, according to which 18.3% of the ships went to Ukraine and 81.7% of the ships — to the Russians. It was also agreed that the Russian fleet would be based in Crimea until 2017, — ed.). Ukraine’s mistake was not to draw conclusions from the 300-year-old relationship with the Russian Federation.

Russia’s intentions to attack Ukraine were especially evident after Putin’s statements at the Munich Security Conference [2008] (it was then that the Russian president declared that Ukraine is a fake, fictitious country and also spoke out against the expansion of NATO — ed.)», — Igor Koziy, Ukrainian military expert of the Institute Euro-Atlantic cooperation.

 

That indicated the plans of the Russian Federation to launch a full-scale invasion

From the middle of 2021, narratives about the «unity of Russians and Ukrainians» (article by Vladimir Putin), «the absurdity of contacts with the current Ukrainian leadership» (the statement of Dmitriy Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation), «the expansion of territories as the truth of the existence of the Russian Federation», «the need to let off steam» (article by Vladislav Surkov, a Russian politician).

In September 2021, the joint strategic exercises «Zapad  — 2021» [West] of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus armed forces began. In October 2021, the large-scale deployment of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine started.

December 18, 2021 — the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation openly issued an ultimatum to NATO, stating that the West «has two options» — either to accept Russia’s proposal for «security guarantees» or «to deal with a military-technical alternative».

 

On the eve of the invasion

February 9, 2022 — Russia actually closed the Black and Azov Seas to Ukraine under the pretext of conducting military exercises «Soyuznaya reshimost — 2022» [Allied resolve]. 

On February 19, 2022, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, spoke at the Munich Security Conference (where he emphasized the need to update the global security architecture); on February 21, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine sent a request to the member states of the UN Security Council demanding immediate consultation on urgent actions to reduce tensions and practical steps to guarantee Ukraine’s security based on the Budapest Memorandum.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a statement during the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Feb. 19, 2022, in Munich, Germany.

February 21–22, 2022 — President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognising the independence of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and ordered the introduction of Russian troops there; the Council of the Federation of the Russian Federation gave the President of the Russian Federation consent to the use of the Russian Armed Forces abroad; personnel of Russian diplomatic institutions were evacuated from Ukraine.

On February 23, 2022, the leaders of illegal armed formations appealed to Russia to send troops into the territory of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

 

At the beginning of the war

On February 24, 2022, at around 5:00 a.m., Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a «special military operation» in Ukraine (interestingly, Putin stated in his speach that «the occupation of Ukrainian territories is not included in the plans of the Russian Federation») .

Immediately, Russian troops began intensive shelling of the units of the Armed Forces in the east of the country, crossed the northeastern borders, and also began missile attacks on the territory of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine unanimously approved the introduction of martial law.

Putin’s plan was to capture Kyiv in 3 days and install a pro-Moscow government. Therefore, the battle for Kyiv became almost the main one in the first month of the war.

Dmytro Linko, People’s Deputy of Ukraine, the first commander of the «St. Mary» battalion, The Stugna battalion commander, told about his participation in this battle:

«I learned about the beginning of a full-scale war in Kropyvnytskyi, where I was working at the time as Deputy Chairman of the Kirovohrad Regional Council. Since that very morning, we have held several meetings and transferred powers and resources to the newly created military administrations. I realized that the country needed me more as a soldier than as an official so I needed to gather things and prepare for serious battles. In the evening, I had already left for Kyiv, where my friends, with whom we fought together back in 2014, were gathering. At first, I took my weapon with me — an Saiga semi-automatic rifle (a civilian version of a Kalashnikov assault rifle, — ed.). Later, when we advanced to the Hostomel area and were preparing to meet columns of Russian paratroopers, I changed my AK [Kalashnikov assault rifle — ed.] to a machine gun.

We have close ties with the fighters of the GUR (Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, — ed.), so we joined them as volunteers. When we were all lined up and asked who could work with a machine gun, of course, I raised my hand. So, they loaded me with a submachine gun and a huge pile of boxes for it. I took my friend Maksym as my second number, and we went to the center of the Hostomel.

There, we set up an ambush right in the center of the city, digging trenches right in the streets.

The battle lasted from the 1st to the 3rd of March, during  which we destroyed a column of Russian paratroopers. They planned to march into Kyiv and have a parade on Khreshchatyk, but we changed their plans.

In the pocket of one of the Russian paratroopers, I found a pamphlet with written instructions on how to communicate with Ukrainians. They said that the Russian military were the liberators and saviours of all Ukrainians who had been waiting for them for a long time. The Ukrainians have nothing to fear – not the occupiers, but brothers who came on tanks… 

The turning point and the fiercest stage of the battles for Kyiv was the battle near the village of Moshchun. Here the Russians tried to cross the rivers and swamps that separated them from the attack on Kyiv. The battalion of the 72nd Brigade held positions here. Together with them, we had to keep our positions for several days. Everyone who was in Moshchun remembers that it was like a World War I battle with raw trenches and thousands of shells falling overhead. Many remained in the trenches forever…

After several weeks of futile assaults, the Russians realised that the plan to encircle Kyiv had failed. At the same time, we began to break up their grouping in the Chernihiv region, which stretched for several hundred kilometers and was an easy target for our sabotage groups. When we launched a counteroffensive at the end of March, 2022 the Russians began to flee.

When we liberated the village of Lukyanivka, the Russian occupiers simply abandoned a dozen BMP (infantry combat vehicles, — ed.) and tanks. Some of them simply did not have fuel and machine oils.

Despite the traditional internal disputes, which Ukrainians like to engage in during peacetime, in the face of the enemy, Ukrainians united in one fist and beat the occupiers in the teeth. Uniting and helping each other have become one of the main factors that allow us to hold our defense against the onslaught of the orcs horde».

 

Further course of events

Mykola Bielieskov, the Ukrainian military and political expert, senior analyst at the «Come Back Alive» Foundation, tells about the further chronology of events:

«Each period has its own nuances, such as our typical tactics and the tactics of the enemy. A lot can be said about this. If you schematically outline the chronology of events, it will look like this:

1. The enemy’s strategic offensive operation with the aim of isolating Kyiv, encircling the OOS group (Operations of the United Forces, — ed.), occupying the left bank of the Dnieper and cutting off Ukraine from the sea and thus creating the basis for an offensive on the right bank of the Dnieper. Failure. (period — February 24 — April 2022, — ed.).
2. The enemy’s operation aimed at encircling the Ukrainian group in the east. Attempts to reach across the Izyum ledge. The failure and culmination of Russian offensive potential in 2022. (June 2022, — ed.).
3. Regrouping with the aim of strengthening the grouping on the right bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region. Imbalance of the defence system of the Russian Federation on the flanks. (September, 2022 — ed.).
4. Balaklia-Kupiansk offensive operation of the defence forces with the further offensive in the direction of Svatove and Kreminna. (September 2022, — ed.).
5. Kherson’s offensive operation of the defence forces with the squeezing of the enemy beyond the Dnipro. (August — November 2022, — ed.).
6. Russian’s transition to strategic defence. Announcement of mobilisation. The beginning of the creation of stationary lines of defence. (September, 2022, — ed.).
7. The second major offensive of Russians in the east of Ukraine with the aim of seizing the Donetsk region. Failure. (February 2023, — ed.).

In June 2023, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed that the Ukrainian army is currently conducting counteroffensive operations. In 5 months of the counteroffensive, Ukraine advanced 17 km and did not achieve significant breakthroughs. Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak says that «the war has entered a ‘complicated’ phase again due to Russia’s advantage in weapons and military forces».

The Washington Post journalists also note that Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, decided to save more lives of Ukrainian soldiers:

«Instead of trying to break through the Russian defense with a massive, mechanized attack supported by artillery fire, as advised by American colleagues, Zaluzhny decided that Ukrainian soldiers would go on foot in small groups of 10 people — this approach will preserve equipment and lives but will be much slower».

We spoke with Oleg Symoroz, a volunteer in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a veteran of the Russo-Ukrainian war, about his personal military experiences and his thoughts on the future perspective of the war:

«On February 24 [2022], I was at home in Kyiv. In the morning, I heard fighter jets flying near the building, and my phone was lit up in red. I read the news and saw that the Russian military had crossed our state border with Belarus in the Kyiv region. It was then that I understood they were heading to Kyiv.

As a Kyiv resident, a civic activist, and a man, I understood that despite the fear, there was a responsibility on me, first and foremost, to show my position to the people who trusted me. So, I made the decision to join the Armed Forces. It took a couple of weeks because the military enlistment office didn’t want to take me; there were queues, and I had no military experience. They advised me to go to territorial defence. There were queues, a shortage of weapons, and finally, my father and I mobilised into the 112th Brigade of the Armed Forces. We fought on the Irpin direction, and it was challenging because on the first day, we received weapons, and a few hours later, we were shelled by Russian Grad missiles… it was quite difficult, especially psychologically.

After the de-occupation of the Kyiv region, we underwent coordination, training, and prepared transport, and in the fall of 2022, we received a combat order to perform tasks in eastern Ukraine. It was the Serebriansky Forest, the direction of Kreminna, the border of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

I performed combat tasks as a shooter in the rifle company. On October 20, 2022, early in the morning, we received a combat order to move to new positions and go to zero. Near Torsk and Dibrova, at zero, my Nissan Navara pickup hit an anti-tank mine. As a result, both of my lower limbs were amputated. Complex fractures of the arms with burns on the right arm. The engine hit my head, so I also lost teeth, had a broken jaw, facial bones, nose, and a concussion.

We were left alone in the forest at zero. Miraculously, my brothers-in-arms managed to lay down turnstiles, found transport, and evacuated me. Then, resuscitation, critical condition, and two weeks of fighting for life.

Now the war is becoming even harder for infantry. More mines, more strike drones’ attacks from the enemy. The situation on the battlefield can be changed by increasing technical means – artillery, tanks, mortars, and attack drones. There is still a shortage of all this, so the infantry are forced to cover this gap themselves…».

We also spoke with Volodymyr Musyak, a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, about his combat experience and perspective on the war:

«My friends from Kyiv called at around 5 in the morning. They said, ‘It has begun. Kyiv is being shelled.’ I grabbed my backpack, and took my weapon (I had everything assembled because I’ve been fighting since 2014). From 2014 to 2018, I was in the war. In general, I understood that sooner or later, this would happen, a full-scale attack by Russia, you know. So, everything was ready, and I went to the military enlistment office.

I fought in the Kharkiv region, in Bakhmut, Zaytseve. Now – in the Kupiansk direction. We were near Lyman, before the Kupiansk direction.

The prospects of the war – victory, definitely victory. Because if, God forbid, someone is not determined to win, our country will not exist, our people will not exist. We are already seen how they came in the spring of 2022: they were destroying not only the military but also the civilian population. They were destroying women, children, elderly people, not to mention men… because it was just everybody. In my opinion, their goal is not to conquer our country. Their goal is, as it was in Tsarist Russia, then in Soviet power – the destruction of us as an ethnicity, as a nation. Total annihilation. And those they don’t destroy, they want to turn into janissaries, into mankurts».

Two years of war in numbers

Monitoring Mission of the UN on Human Rights in Ukraine reported that at least 10,000 civilians, including over 560 children, have been killed, and more than 18,500 have been injured following the full-scale armed attack by Russia on Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

More than 26,000 people are considered missing under special circumstances. Among them, 11,000 civilians and 15,000 Ukrainian servicemen are reported as missing. In European countries, there are currently over 4.1 million Ukrainian people seeking asylum. According to the Kyiv School of Economics, the total amount of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure caused by the war reached $151.2 billion, as of September 1, 2023.

 

The goal of Russia

«The strategic goal of the Russian Federation, in my opinion, was to destroy Ukrainian statehood as it is. Apparently, they expected that they would enter in organised columns, people would meet them with bread and salt, and that was the end of Ukrainian statehood. But Ukrainians began to resist, Ukrainians began to defend themselves. As of today, they are coming here from the Russian Federation to deliberately kill Ukrainians, to kill» — says Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

«This is more than just a land grab. This is the rattling of nuclear weapons by a permanent member of the UN Security Council, who is trying to undermine the principles of the UN Charter regarding territorial integrity and sovereignty and impose a new world order» — said Dereck J. Hogan, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia.

 

***

Russia’s goal is to destroy the Ukrainian state as it is. Despite Russia’s confidence in a swift victory within three days and the uncertainty of the international community regarding Ukraine’s ability to withstand, Ukrainians have been fighting against Russia’s armed aggression for two years.

 

Anya Ostymchuk