Following a major Russian military build-up around Ukraine’s borders and Russia’s official recognition of the two self-proclaimed separatist states of Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbas, on February 24, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier, NATO repeatedly accused Russia of planning an invasion, also warning Ukrainian officials about the expected danger, which it denied. Russian president Vladimir Putin criticized the enlargement of NATO as a threat to his country and demanded Ukraine be barred from ever joining the military alliance. He also expressed irredentist views, questioning Ukraine’s right to exist and claiming Ukraine was wrongfully created by Soviet Russia.
Reports spread in the Ukrainian media said Putin was planning to invade the capital city of Kyiv within three days, but he came across unprecedented resistance from the Ukrainian army and even the country’s citizens. Seven days in and the world is impressed with the rare courage and unity of the Ukrainian people.
On February 24, Russian forces attacked from Belarus to the north, the occupied Crimea Peninsula to the south, and its own soil to the east, in the biggest Russian military deployment since World War II.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered a general mobilization and martial law in response.
Ukraine’s resistance has been fierce, repelling Russian hits to the capital Kyiv and other major cities, but Russian air and artillery attacks on populated urban areas have intensified in recent days, with Russian state-run TV channels telling the Russian population that Ukraine is to blame for bombing its own.
Meanwhile, Zelensky, who has remained in Kyiv to rally his people against the invasion, officially signed Ukraine’s request to join the EU on Monday.
Despite heroic resistance on the ground, and $1.6bn in US and EU military aid, Ukraine’s armed forces have been struggling in the fight against continuous attacks of the Russian army.
On February 25, the day after the invasion, Russian forces took control of Chernobyl, site of the 1986 nuclear disaster and a place that remains radioactive to this day – prompting significant concern from international nuclear watchdogs. Russian soldiers are holding the staff of the Ukrainian nuclear site hostage.
Dozens of people were killed in rocket strikes by Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
The Russian army claimed it had taken control of the strategically important city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Wednesday. A 64km convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles is on the road to Kyiv, and Russian forces have encircled the eastern city of Kharkiv and the port city of Mariupol.
Several cities have come under intense shelling, with Wednesday one of the most destructive days of the fighting.
Kherson is the first major city to be taken by Russia after heavy fighting.
Kherson’s Mayor, Igor Kolykhaev, said Russian troops had forced their way into the city council building and imposed a curfew on residents.
“The capture of Kherson – located on the banks of the Dnieper River where it flows into the Black Sea – is significant because it could allow Russia to create a base for the military there as it seeks to push further inland.
“Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, came under a fierce aerial assault,” its mayor told the BBC.
“Shelling and cruise missile strikes were hitting residential areas and inflicting heavy civilian casualties.”
In the southern port of Mariupol, hundreds are feared dead following hours of sustained shelling.
After more than 15 hours of continuous bombardment by Russian forces, the key Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is “near to a humanitarian catastrophe”, the city’s deputy mayor told the BBC.
“The Russian army is working through all their weapons here – artillery, multiple rocket launch systems, airplanes, tactical rockets. They are trying to destroy the city,” Serhiy Orlov said.
Mr. Orlov said Russian forces were several kilometers from the city on all sides and had launched strikes on key infrastructure, cutting water and power supplies to parts of the city. One densely populated residential district on the city’s left bank had been “nearly totally destroyed,” he said.
“We cannot count the number of victims there, but we believe at least hundreds of people are dead. We cannot go in to retrieve the bodies. My father lives there, I cannot reach him, I don’t know if he is alive or dead.”
However, Russian efforts to encircle the capital Kyiv have slowed, with one US official saying a huge Russian convoy to the north of the city barely moved all day on Wednesday.
Large explosions were heard in the capital overnight into Thursday, with footage showing a huge fireball lighting up the night sky.
Ukraine’s army has resisted Russian forces so far in key parts of the country but the increased aerial bombardment of cities has raised fears Russia is shifting tactics.
“The Ukrainian army is very brave and they will continue to defend the city but the style of the Russian army is like pirates – they do not fight with their army, they just destroy entire districts,” Mr Orlov said.
“We believe in our Ukrainian army, but we are in a terrible situation.”
Meanwhile, many Ukrainian civilians have rushed to arm themselves and join in the defense of their cities, setting the stage for the intensifying violence to come.
In its latest intelligence report Thursday, the British Ministry of Defense said Russian gains in Kyiv have been slow due to a “staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion” and that Russia “has been forced to admit” soldiers killed since the invasion.
“The main body of the large Russian column advancing on Kyiv remains over 30km from the center of the city,” the report said. “Despite heavy Russian shelling, the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol remain in Ukrainian hands.”
By Ana Dumbadze
