war in ukraine: a timeline of events

By: Ashley Ford

On February 24, 2022, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

Since that day, heartache and tragedy have dominated headlines: lives and structures have been destroyed, and some 2.6 million Ukrainians have fled the country, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, which said the number could balloon to 4 million should Russia keep up its attack.

​This war has affected more than the people living in Ukraine. It has caused prices of everyday goods, including gas, to shoot up to record prices. 

Here's a timeline of some of the events that have occurred leading up to the invasion, and during the invasion (up to March 16):

1991: After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declares independence from Moscow, Russia.

2004: Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovich is declared president but allegations of vote-rigging trigger protests, known as the Orange Revolution, forcing a re-run of the vote. Pro-Western former prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, is elected president.

2005: Yushchenko takes power with promises to lead Ukraine out of the Kremlin's orbit, towards NATO and the EU.

2008: NATO promises Ukraine it will one day join the alliance.

2010: Yanukovich wins a presidential election.

2013: Yanukovich's government suspends trade and association talks with the EU and opts to revive economic ties with Moscow, triggering months of mass rallies in Kyiv.

Feb. 2014: Parliament votes to remove Yanukovich after bloodshed in the protests. Within days, armed men seize parliament in the Ukrainian region of Crimea and raise the Russian flag. Moscow later annexed the territory.

April 2014: Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region of Donbass declare independence. Some 15,000 people have been killed since 2014 in fighting between the separatists and the Ukrainian army, according to the Kyiv government.

April 2014: Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region of Donbass declare independence. Some 15,000 people have been killed since 2014 in fighting between the separatists and the Ukrainian army, according to the Kyiv government.

2017: An association agreement between Ukraine and the EU opens markets for free trade of goods and services, and visa-free travel to the EU for Ukrainians.
2019: Former comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy is elected president.

Jan. 2021: Zelenskyy appeals to U.S. president Joe Biden to let Ukraine join NATO. In February, his government freezes the assets of opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk, the Kremlin's most prominent ally in Ukraine.

Spring 2021: Russia begins massing troops near Ukraine's borders in what it says are training exercises.

Nov. 2021: Satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies show ongoing buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine with estimates soon surpassing 100,000 troops deployed.

Dec. 17, 2021: Russia presents security demands including that NATO pull back troops and weapons from eastern Europe and bar Ukraine from ever joining.

Jan. 24, 2022: NATO puts forces on standby and reinforces eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets.

Jan. 26: Washington responds to Russia's security demands, repeating a commitment to NATO's "open-door" policy while offering a "pragmatic evaluation" of Moscow's concerns. Two days later Russia said its demands were not addressed.

Feb. 2022: Amid growing Western fears Russia could attack Ukraine, the United States says it will send 3,000 extra troops to NATO members Poland and Romania. Washington and allies say they will not send troops to Ukraine, but warn of severe economic sanctions if Russian President Vladimir Putin takes military action.

Feb. 21: In a TV address, Putin says Ukraine is an integral part of Russian history and has a puppet regime managed by foreign powers. Putin orders what he called peacekeeping forces into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, after recognizing them as independent.

Feb. 22: The United States, Britain and their allies sanction Russian parliament members, banks and other assets in response to Putin's troop order. Germany halts the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

Feb. 23: Russian-backed separatist leaders ask Russia for help repelling aggression from the Ukrainian army.

Feb. 24: Putin authorizes "special military operations" in Ukraine. Russian forces begin missile and artillery attacks, striking major Ukrainian cities including Kiev.

Feb. 26: Western allies announce new sanctions, including restrictions on Russia's central bank and expelling key banks off the main global payments system.

Feb 27: European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announces that Russian aircraft will be banned from EU airspace, and Russian state-owned media Russia Today, Sputnik and their subsidiaries are banned from EU airwaves and the internet.

Feb. 28: Russia and Ukraine hold a first round of ceasefire talks at the Belarusian border. They disbanded after five hours without an agreement.

March 1: A 65km-long Russian convoy amasses on the outskirts of Kyiv

March 2: The UN General Assembly approves a non-binding resolution condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and demanding an immediate withdrawal. The resolution is supported by 141 of the assembly’s 193 members. Thirty-five member states, including China, abstain.

March 3: Russian troops seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe. In a worrying development a part of the plant catches fire threatening a nuclear accident 10 times the size Chernobyl. The crisis is averted, but Russia retains control of the site.

March 4: The UN offers to secure Ukraine’s nuclear sites, including Chernobyl which was the site of a 1986 nuclear disaster. Putin dismisses as fake reports that Russia is bombing Ukraine, where 47 people were killed in the city of Chernihiv, during an interview with Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz.

March 5: Russia promises to allow a humanitarian corridor to allow residents of Mariupol to leave but it doesn’t last long. Later in the day with the city still under fire the evacuation is halted. The city of Chernihiv, 140km from Kyiv, is bombed with explosions lighting up the sky as Russian troops continue to the capital.

March 6: Violations of a ceasefire agreement prevented planned evacuations from the port city of Mariupol as Zelenskyy telephoned Biden to discuss financial aid and sanctions. Zelenskyy’s hopes for a ban on Russian oil imports were turned down with Biden fearful of forcing up consumer prices.

March 7: As the war closes out week two, there are fears the conflict could enter a deadly new phase if Russia changes its military strategy. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called on China to "demonstrate its commitment to global peace at a 'hinge point in history”. 

March 8: The Russian defense ministry said 723 people have been evacuated along an agreed evacuation route out of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday. 
The ministry was quoted by the state news agency RIA Novosti. It said those evacuated included Indian, Chinese and Jordanian and Tunisian citizens. The first convoy that left Tuesday morning reached the city of Poltava without incident, Ukrainian officials said.
 
March 9: A maternity hospital in besieged Mariupol was hit in what Zelenskyy called a "direct strike" by Russian forces. In a tweet, Zelenskyy said children were among those under the rubble, and city officials say women in labor were injured. Responding to the news, UNICEF said the war was taking a "horrific toll" on children, noting that at least 37 have been killed and 50 injured.
 
March 10: No breakthrough came from the highest-level Ukraine-Russia meeting since fighting began. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov reached no significant agreement in Antalya, Turkey, in the countries' first cabinet-level meeting since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24.
 
March 11: Russian airstrikes pound Ukraine's cities, but Russia's military made no major advances in the past day, according to a senior U.S. defense official. New airstrikes in the west have targeted Ukrainian airfields. The Russian convoy to the northwest of Kyiv has not moved closer to the capital, the official said, noting that some elements of the convoy moved off the road into the tree line and others moved closer to the front. The southern city of Mariupol remains under siege.
 
March 12: President Biden approved $200 million in new security aid to Ukraine. The funding includes anti-aircraft weapons and small arms to support Ukraine. The new package brings U.S. aid for Ukraine to $1.2 billion.
 
March 13: Russia steps up its deadly assaults in western Ukraine. A Russian attack on a Ukrainian military site located some 15 miles from the Polish border brought the war dangerously close to NATO territory, a day after Moscow warned that Western military shipments to Ukraine were "legitimate targets." The attack left at least 35 people dead and wounded more than 100.
 
March 14: A fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia concluded without a breakthrough. Negotiations are expected to resume Tuesday, also by video. Meanwhile, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration said Russia is escalating attacks in the western part of the country.

March 15:  Kyiv braces for stepped-up bombardments as attacks increase on the city's residential targets. A senior U.S. defense official says Russian forces have not appreciably advanced on the capital in the past day, but the Kremlin is believed to be "considering their resupply and manning options."

​March 16: Zalenskyy delivers an impassioned speech to members of the U.S. Congress, pleading for more allied support, calling on President Biden, directly, saying "You are the leader of the nation, of your great nation," Zelenskyy said. "I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace." Biden responded several hours later, pledging $800 million.