Following weeks of military build-up along the border of Ukraine, Russia launched attack on its neighbour on February 24, 2022. The military flare-up between Russia and Ukraine dates back to 2014, when the former annexed Crimea. In January 2021, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed the U.S. to let it join NATO, a move that irked Russia, which has repeatedly demanded NATO to give up its military activities in eastern Europe and Ukraine.
Two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion captured nearly a quarter of the country, the stakes could not be higher for Kyiv. After a string of victories in the first year of the war, fortunes have turned for the Ukrainian military, which is dug in, outgunned and outnumbered against a more powerful opponent.
Read latest news on Russia – Ukraine war here.
As the war enters its third year, here is a look at some pictures from the last two years:
Photo:
AP
Russian armored vehicles are loaded onto railway platforms at a railway station in region not far from Russia-Ukraine border, in the Rostov-on-Don region, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. U.S. President Joe Biden announced the U.S. was ordering heavy financial sanctions against Russia, declaring that Moscow had flagrantly violated international law in what he called the “beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Photo:
AP
Chinese and Indian representatives voting to abstain from a resolution raise their hands during a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Russian invasion of the Ukraine on Feb. 25, 2022 at U.N. headquarters. Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution demanding that Moscow stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops.
Photo:
AP
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to the nation via his smartphone in the center of Kyiv, Ukraine on Feb. 26, 2022. Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine‚Äôs capital and street fighting broke out as city officials urged residents to take shelter. The country’s president refused an American offer to evacuate, insisting that he would stay.
Photo:
Reuters
Smoke rising after shelling on the outskirts of the city is pictured from Kyiv, Ukraine February 27, 2022.
Photo:
EVGENIY MALOLETKA
FILE – Smoke rise from an air defense base in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukraine is marking Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, with a string of foreign dignitaries and officials expected to visit the capital, Kyiv, in solidarity as Ukrainian forces run low on ammunition and weaponry and Western aid hangs in the balance. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Photo:
Reuters
A general view of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in the village of Serhiivka, Odesa region, Ukraine July 1, 2022.
Photo:
AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin watches the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) military exercise in far eastern Russia, outside Vladivostok, on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. The weeklong exercise that began Thursday is intended to showcase growing defense ties between Russia and China and also demonstrate that Moscow has enough troops and equipment to conduct the massive drills even as its troops are engaged in military action in Ukraine.
Photo:
Reuters
Bodies are seen next to cars from a civilian convoy, which Ukrainian State Security Service say was hit by a shelling from Russian troops amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the village of Kurylivka in Kharkiv region, Ukraine on October 21, 2022.
Photo:
Reuters
Victor Syabro, 68, cuts a plank of wood into smaller pieces for firewood on his land where he and his wife Ludmila, 61, continue to live despite the fact that their home was mostly destroyed by shelling in the summer and their garden was hit as recently as last week as the town continues to receive shelling on a daily basis in Siversk, Ukraine, November 28, 2022. Despite no power, water or services and daily shelling, Victor says they will not leave because it’s their land, where Victor was raised and where five generations have lived.
Photo:
AP
A family reunites for the first time since Russian troops withdrew from the Kherson region, in Tsentralne, southern Ukraine, Nov. 13, 2022.
Photo:
AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a news conference during “The inaugural International Summit of the initiative Grain from Ukraine” in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022.
Photo:
AP
Ukrainian servicemen fire a 120mm mortar towards Russian positions at the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023.
Photo:
Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 20, 2023.
Photo:
Reuters
A firefighter works inside the burnt-out building of the University of Economics and Trade, which was reportedly hit by shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, August 6, 2023.
Photo:
Reuters
An employee operates at a production facility of Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine October 9, 2023.
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EVGENIY MALOLETKA
A Ukrainian serviceman shouts to paramedics in front of bodies killed after a Russian rocket attack on the food market in the city centrer of Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Photo:
EFREM LUKATSKY
FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attend a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia received positive news on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, about their quests to join the European Union but countries in the volatile Balkans region that have waited years longer to become members of the world’s biggest trading bloc appeared to slip back in the queue. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Photo:
Evgeniy Maloletka
An explosion erupts from an apartment building at 110 Mytropolytska St., after a Russian army tank fired on it in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022.
Photo:
LAURENT CIPRIANI
Ukrainian infantrymen train with French soldiers to learn combat skills, in France, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. With the full-scale war grinding into a second winter, and casualties already counted in the hundreds of thousands continuing to mount on both sides, the training has become crucially important for Ukraine’s chances of victory. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
Photo:
STRINGER
Smoke rises over a residential building after a Russian missile and drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 29, 2023. REUTERS/Danylo Pavlov TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Photo:
Mary Altaffer
The United Nations Security Council meets on maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
