Their resistance has been surprisingly durable, Western military analysts said.
Belarus, a long ally of Moscow which had held joint military exercises for months, is preparing to send its troops into Ukraine in support of the war even as it has agreed to host negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on Monday.
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FRIDAY
Bridge destroyed
by Ukrainian forces
Kyiv City
Kotsyubyns’ke
FRIDAY
Civilian building
hit by rocket debris
SATURDAY
High-rise
apartment
struck by
missile
Kyiv Oblast
3 miles
FRIDAY
Bridge destroyed
by Ukrainian forces
Kyiv City
Kotsyubyns’ke
FRIDAY
Civilian building hit
by rocket debris
SATURDAY
High-rise apartment
struck by missile
Sikorsky
International
Airport
Kyiv Oblast
3 miles
FRIDAY
Bridge destroyed
by Ukrainian forces
Kyiv City
Kotsyubyns’ke
FRIDAY
Civilian building hit
by rocket debris
SATURDAY
High-rise apartment
struck by missile
Sikorsky
International
Airport
Boryspil
International
Airport
Kyiv Oblast
3 miles
It remains unclear how much of the country remains under Ukrainian control and how much Russia has seized.
More than 350 civilians have been killed, including 14 children, Ukrainian officials said Sunday, although the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said the actual number is likely “considerably higher.” The number of refugees is approaching 400,000, the U.N. refugee agency says, creating a humanitarian crisis.
In photos, videos and maps, this is how the situation on the ground is unfolding, including reports from journalists for The Post on the scene.
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Map: What Russia’s troop movements look like as of Sunday
Russian forces pushed into Kharkiv, but the city remains under Ukrainian control.
Russian-held
areas an troop
movement
BELARUS
As of Saturday night, Russian forces had not been able to isolate Kyiv.
RUSSIA
Kyiv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Crimean forces are now pushing toward southeastern Ukraine.
Berdiansk
Odessa
ROM.
Russia has taken Berdiansk.
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Control areas as of Feb. 26
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, Janes, Post reporting
Russian forces pushed into Kharkiv, but the city remains under Ukrainian control.
Russian-held
areas and troop
movement
BELARUS
As of Saturday night in Ukraine, Russian forces had not been able to isolate Kyiv.
RUSSIA
Kyiv
Kharkiv
Crimean forces changed their advance to push toward southeastern Ukraine.
UKRAINE
Zaporizhie
Berdiansk
Odessa
ROM.
Russia has taken Berdiansk.
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Control maps
as of Feb. 26
Black Sea
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, Janes, Post reporting
Russian-held areas
and troop movement
Russian forces pushed into Kharkiv, but the city remains under Ukrainian control.
BELARUS
POLAND
As of Saturday night in Ukraine, Russian forces had not been able to isolate Kyiv.
RUSSIA
Kyiv
Dnieper
Kharkiv
Crimean forces changed their advance to Odessa to push north toward southeastern Ukraine.
UKRAINE
Zaporizhie
Separatist-
controlled
area
Berdiansk
ROMANIA
Odessa
100 MILES
Russia has taken Berdiansk.
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
Control areas as of Feb. 26
Black Sea
Sources: Institute for the Study
of War, Janes, Post reporting
Contested
Russian-held
Russian troop movement
Ground incursion from Belarus to north of Kyiv
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POLAND
Helicopter troop inserts into
Kharkiv area
Chernobyl
Russia is getting more resistance than it expected around Kyiv, according to the Pentagon
Kyiv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Dnieper
Amphibious landing
west of the port city
of Mariupol
Mariupol
Separatist-
controlled
area
ROMANIA
Odessa
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Black Sea
Sources: Janes, Post reporting
More than 360,000 Ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries, according to the United Nations refugee agency. They are going to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Moldova. They are waiting in lines for as long as 36 hours to enter these countries as they flee the escalating fighting at home.
Available border crossings to Europe
Warsaw
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POLAND
Kyiv
Lviv
Dnieper
Kharkiv
SLOVAKIA
MOLDOVA
UKRAINE
Budapest
HUNGARY
Odessa
ROMANIA
CRIMEA
Bucharest
As of Feb. 27.
Does not include railway crossings.
Black Sea
100 MI
Sources: Ukrainian government, border police authorities.
Available border crossings to Europe
Warsaw
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POLAND
Kyiv
Lviv
Dnieper
Kharkiv
SLOVAKIA
UKRAINE
Budapest
MOLDOVA
HUNGARY
Odessa
ROMANIA
CRIMEA
Bucharest
Black Sea
As of Feb. 27.
Does not include railway crossings.
100 MI
Sources: Ukrainian government, border police authorities.
Available border crossings to Europe
Warsaw
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POLAND
Kyiv
Lviv
Dnieper
Kharkiv
SLOVAKIA
UKRAINE
Budapest
MOLDOVA
HUNGARY
Odessa
ROMANIA
CRIMEA
Bucharest
Black Sea
As of Feb. 27.
Does not include railway crossings.
100 MI
Sources: Ukrainian government, border police authorities.
Reporter dispatch: Sirens and warnings in Ukraine’s capital
The Washington Post’s Siobhán O’Grady and Whitney Shefte report from a bunker in Kyiv on Feb. 26 after warnings of imminent Russian shelling. (Whitney Shefte, Siobhán O’Grady/The Washington Post)Missile strikes residential building in Kyiv
Two surveillance camera videos, verified by The Washington Post, show a missile hitting a residential building in Kyiv Feb. 26. (Telegram)Two surveillance camera videos, verified by The Washington Post, show the moment a missile hits a residential high-rise in Kyiv on Saturday morning, as Ukrainian forces fight to hold the capital city. There was no word on casualties; air raid sirens sound to warn people to seek shelter underground.
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Firefighters extinguished flames where it appears there are commercial shops on the ground floor.
Through analysis and geolocation of the videos, The Post determined that the missile hit the building from the west. Directly behind the building to the east, in the path of the missile’s approximate trajectory, is a medical center.
— Atthar Mirza and Elyse Samuels
Ukrainians flee into neighboring countries
Perhaps 120,000 people already had fled Ukraine into neighboring countries, the U.N. refugee agency said Saturday, cramming into trains, packed into cars and buses, and even walking across borders.
The refugees are being welcomed by Hungary and other neighboring countries that all resisted accepting people displaced by the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Satellite images on Friday showed a four-mile-long line of vehicles waiting to cross a checkpoint at Siret, Romania. The Romanian defense minister said earlier this week that the NATO country of 19 million could take in up to a half-million refugees.
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Kyiv
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
Bucharest
Line of cars
N
3 MILES
2 MILES
1 MILE
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
Kyiv
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
Bucharest
Line of cars
N
3 MILES
2 MILES
1 MILE
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
Kyiv
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
Bucharest
Line of cars
N
3 MILES
2 MILES
1 MILE
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
Kyiv
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
Bucharest
Line of cars
N
3 MILES
2 MILES
1 MILE
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
The majority crossing the borders are women and children, since Ukraine has tried to prevent most men from leaving the country so they can stay and fight. Some children have been sent alone.
Anna Semyuk, 33, hugged her son at a Hungarian crossing on Saturday. At the Ukrainian side of the border, her son and daughter had been handed by their father, who is not allowed to cross, to Nataliya Ableyeva, 58, a stranger who took the children across the border and kept them safe.
“We didn’t expect it to happen so fast,” said Khrystyna Spilnyk, 22, who was walking to the Polish border with her mother after leaving their car at the side of the road on Thursday. “We are stressed, confused.”
The largest numbers continued to pour into Poland, where many Ukrainians already had emigrated to work after previous Russian incursions. Many people sent children alone.
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From Kyiv to Kharkiv Ukrainians are answering the call to take up arms
Ukraine’s government has urged citizens to take up arms to repel the Russian invasion. Across the country, people from all walks of life are answering the call. (Whitney Shefte, Whitney Leaming, James Cornsilk/The Washington Post)Reporter dispatch: Kyiv residents prepare for a fight
Post reporter Siobhán O’Grady reported on Ukrainians lining up at a police station hoping to register for weapons in Kyiv on Feb. 26. (The Washington Post)Reporter dispatch: Ukrainian volunteers build molotov cocktails
The Post’s Sudarsan Raghavan reported on Ukrainians preparing molotov cocktails in Kyiv on Feb. 26, in order to fight off attacks by Russian forces. (The Washington Post)Reporter dispatch: In the western city of Lviv, sirens, fear and preparation
The Washington Post’s Loveday Morris describes the tense wait in Lviv, Ukraine, as air raid sirens go off in the city. (The Washington Post)The second floor of a hospital in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol was struck on Feb. 25, as the city faced heavy shelling from Russian forces. (Twitter)Russia has claimed its assault on Ukraine is aimed only at military targets, but bridges, schools and residential areas have been hit with air and missile strikes.
Some of the heaviest attacks have been in the southeastern city of Melitopol, where shelling struck the second floor of a hospital Friday, as seen in video of the event first verified by Storyful.
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Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko confirmed in a Facebook post that the hospital came under fire. He said that no one was hurt.
A Russian bomb struck a hospital in Ukraine’s Donetsk region a day earlier, according to Human Rights Watch. At least four civilians were killed and the hospital damaged, the group said, basing its account on interviews with hospital staffers and analysis of photos of weapons remnants.
— Meg Kelly and Joyce Sohyun Lee
Russian troops have entered Ukraine from the north, south and east of the country.
Contested
Russian-held
BEL.
RUSSIA
Helicopter troop inserts into Kharkiv area
Russia is getting more resistance than it expected around Kyiv, according to the Pentagon
Chernobyl
Kyiv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Amphibious landing
west of Mariupol
Mariupol
Separatist-
controlled
area
ROMANIA
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Sources: Janes, Post reporting
As of Feb. 25
Contested
Russian-held
Russian troop movement
BEL.
RUSSIA
Helicopter troop inserts into Kharkiv area
POL.
Chernobyl
Russia is getting more resistance than it expected around Kyiv, according to the Pentagon
Kyiv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Amphibious landing
west of Mariupol
ROMANIA
Mariupol
Separatist-
controlled
area
100 MILES
Sources: Janes,
ost reporting
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
As of Feb. 25
Contested
Russian-held
Russian troop movement
Ground incursion from Belarus to north of Kyiv
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Chernobyl
Helicopter troop inserts into Kharkiv area
POLAND
Russia is getting more resistance than it expected around Kyiv, according to the Pentagon
Kyiv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Dnieper
Amphibious landing
west of the port city
of Mariupol
Mariupol
Separatist-
controlled
area
ROMANIA
Odessa
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Sources: Janes, Post reporting
Black Sea
As of Feb .25
Contested
Russian-held
Russian troop movement
Ground incursion from Belarus to north of Kyiv
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POLAND
Helicopter troop inserts into
Kharkiv area
Chernobyl
Russia is getting more resistance than it expected around Kyiv, according to the Pentagon
Kyiv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Dnieper
Amphibious landing
west of the port city
of Mariupol
Mariupol
Separatist-
controlled
area
ROMANIA
Odessa
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Black Sea
Sources: Janes, Post reporting
Dispatches: Reporters on the ground
As the Russian assault on Ukraine intensified, Post reporters shared what they were experiencing on the ground.
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In Kharkiv, The Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan took shelter with her colleagues for a second time as the shelling intensified.
The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan is in Kharkiv, Ukraine where shelling could be heard near the city on Feb. 25. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)In Kyiv, Post Video journalist Whitney Shefte returned to her hotel’s bunker, along with other journalists and hotel guests, for the fourth or fifth time that day.
Video journalist Whitney Shefte reports from her hotel bunker amid loud booms in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Casey Silvestri/The Washington Post)And farther west, The Post’s David Stern reported from a traffic jam in the Carpathian Mountains, where many were trying to travel farther from the fighting. “Cars are backed up for, well, miles,” he said.
Reporter David Stern sits in miles-long traffic in western Ukraine as people move away from Russian threats. (Casey Silvestri/The Washington Post)Civilians answer the call to fight for Ukraine
As Russian forces push toward Kyiv, the seventh most populated city in Europe, people all over the country are being urged by officials — and sometimes compelled by necessity — to fight back in whatever ways they can.
The country’s former president is patrolling the city streets with a civilian defense force, armed with an AK-47. Civilians have been called to find their own weapons and make molotov cocktails — a type of crude, homemade explosive named, mockingly, after a former Soviet foreign minister.
Roughly 18,000 weapons have already been distributed in the Kyiv region, according to the government. At the country’s borders, Ukrainian guards have been stopping vehicles, looking for men between the ages of 18 and 60 who can help in the fight.
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Kira Rudik, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, also said she was ready to fight. She had learned to use a Kalashnikov, she said, in a post on Twitter. “It sounds surreal, as just a few days ago it would never come to my mind.”
— Adam Taylor and Ruby Mellen
Satellite images suggest offensive against Kyiv may be ‘imminent’
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies taken Friday showed large deployments of ground forces and nearly 150 helicopters poised in southern Belarus, fewer than 100 miles from Kyiv.
Friday a senior U.S. defense official said the Russian military had lost momentum in its offensive as Ukrainian forces put up resistance, but the official added that could change. The photos reveal extensive troops and materiel in Belarus, a nation loyal to Moscow.
BELARUS
Mazyr
Satellite images taken Friday
show more than 140 helicopters and ground forces with vehicles in convoy position in Belarus near Mazyr and Chojniki
Chojniki
UKRAINE
Palieski State
Radioecological
Reserve
Chernihiv
Ovruch
Captured by Russia
on Friday
Korosten
Ivankiv
Malyn
Bridge destroyed
by Ukrainian forces
UKRAINE
Kyiv
20 MILES
Zhytomyr
Satellite images taken Friday
show more than 140 helicopters and ground forces with vehicles in convoy position in Belarus near Mazyr and Chojniki
Mazyr
BELARUS
Chojniki
UKR.
Palieski State
Radioecological
Reserve
Chernihiv
Ovruch
Captured by Russia on Friday
Ivankiv
Korosten
Bridge destroyed
by Ukrainian forces
UKRAINE
Kyiv
Zhytomyr
Has been targeted
with airstrikes
30 MILES
30 MILES
Satellite images taken Friday
show more than 140 helicopters and ground forces with vehicles in convoy position near Mazyr and Chojniki
Mazyr
UKR.
Chojniki
BELARUS
Palieski State
Radioecological
Reserve
Chernihiv
Ovruch
Captured by Russia on Friday
Korosten
Ivankiv
Bridge destroyed
by Ukrainian forces
Kyiv
UKRAINE
Zhytomyr
Has been targeted
with airstrikes
30 MILES
“This is an indicator of a large push to come,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor and arms control expert at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies. “The helicopters and the ground forces nearby suggest an imminent offensive against Kyiv.”
He added that while they were hard to definitively identify, the helicopters were probably Russian because “Belarus only has a tiny number of attack helicopters” and “the fact that they are out in the field suggests they are far from home.”
In Chojniki, Belarus, more than 90 parked helicopters formed a line extending more than five miles, Maxar said.
Northeast of that town, several hundred military vehicles were positioned. Fifty additional helicopters were photographed near Mazyr, Belarus. The Pentagon said Friday about a third of the Russian forces committed to the assault are now in Ukraine, or more than 50,000.
Thousands swarm Kyiv railway station
As officials warned that the capital could fall, thousands of people waited in a Kyiv railway station, desperate to get on a train to leave the city. Photos from the Kyiv-based news organization Zaborona posted on Twitter showed crowds of people swarming platforms. The organization said Ukrainian Railways was evacuating 4,000 people an hour, prioritizing women and children.
Some Ukrainians return to fight, others are blocked from fleeing
The video shows hundreds of people stuck at the Medyka border crossing in Shehyni, Ukraine, waiting to enter Poland on Feb. 25. (Wojciech Grzedzinski/The Washington Post)As some Ukrainian men living overseas queued at border crossings to return and try to do their part to fight Russia’s onslaught on Friday, others expressed frustration at being blocked from leaving amid a national call to arms.
Ukraine’s border guard had stopped all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country on Friday, as the defense ministry called on residents of one district of Kyiv to make molotov cocktails.
Alexander Gorbenko, 54, complained there was little he could do to protect his homeland from Russian troops as he parted with his wife and 11-year-old daughter at the Medyka-Shehyni border crossing to Poland, unable to cross with them.
“I just have an air rifle, the cash machines don’t work, and there is no organization,” he said. “I cannot prepare, you cannot just go and buy a weapon, it’s not like the United States.”
— Loveday Morris
Explosions lit up Kyiv’s predawn sky Friday. Social media video showed the blasts as fearful onlookers filmed. The Post verified the videos below and synchronized audio and visual cues to show how the explosions looked from various angles.
The Washington Post synchronized multiple videos showing explosions over Kyiv on Feb. 25. (Twitter and Telegram)A civilian building was heavily damaged after a projectile hit a residential neighborhood in the city, according to Ukrainian officials.
Video posted to social media and verified by The Post shows a small fire and damage to an apartment building in Kyiv in the early morning of Feb. 25. (Telegram)Several people were injured, including one in critical condition, according to the mayor’s office.
Scores of civilians were displaced from their homes in Kyiv on Feb. 25 after an unidentified projectile struck just outside their apartment block before dawn. (Whitney Shefte, Joyce Koh/The Washington Post)Valentina Petrova, one of the building’s residents, examined the damage left behind.
Passersby observed the destruction in shock.
Daily overview
Russian forces drew nearer to Kyiv on Thursday as military experts warned the capital could fall in days.
The city’s mayor vowed to fight Russian forces.
Some residents tried to leave on buses, fearing what may come next.
Protests and arrests in Russia
Protesters in Saint Petersburg, Russia took to the streets to demand an end to the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. (For The Washington Post)Thousands of people protested President Vladimir Putin’s attacks on Ukraine in cities across Russia on Thursday, a striking show of anger in a nation where spontaneous mass demonstrations are illegal and protesters can face fines and jail.
More than 1,700 people were arrested in at least 47 cities across the nation, according to Russian rights group OVD-Info. The group was declared a foreign agent last year, when Putin launched a sweeping crackdown on activists, rights groups and opposition figures.
Police detain protesters in Moscow on Feb. 24. (Telegram)The protests came with an outpouring of horror from liberal Russians, social media influencers, athletes, actors, television presenters and others.
— Robyn Dixon
Destruction from the strikes
Video shared to social media on Thursday and verified by The Post shows at least seven aircrafts flying toward plumes of smoke in Hostomel, Ukraine, approximately three miles east of the Antonov International Airport. In the video the sounds of the approaching helicopters build as the people who are filming discuss what they’re seeing.
Video shared on social media Feb. 24 showed helicopters and smoke rising over Hostomel, Ukraine, as Russia began its country-wide attack. (Twitter)A mix of nearly two dozen attack and transport helicopters assaulted the Hostomel airfield outside Kyiv, the Ukrainian military said.
A resident in Hostomel, Ukraine, northwest of the capital Kyiv shared video of the damage done to his apartment on Feb. 24. (Andriy Tsibulsky via AP)A resident in Hostomel shared video from his apartment on Thursday showing a room in tatters — a blown-out window, destruction from debris, dust-covered furniture and a baby stroller with a toy doll in it. He said the damage was from Russia’s military attack.
— Joyce Lee, Alex Horton, Elyse Samuels
There were similar scenes of destruction in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
In Chuhuiv, just outside of Kharkiv, the pain inflicted from the strikes was clear on people’s faces.
Dispatches: Reporters on the ground
In Ukraine and neighboring Poland, Post reporters witnessed the attack unfold firsthand. Siobhán O’Grady took shelter with other colleagues in a Kyiv hotel basement as Russian forces attacked an air base nearby.
The Post’s Siobhán O’Grady spoke about covering Russia’s military assault on Feb. 24 while taking shelter with colleagues in a hotel basement in Kyiv, Ukraine. (The Washington Post)Post photojournalist Salwan Georges reported from a Kharkiv subway station, where hundreds were taking shelter from bombardments. Some of the Ukrainians there said their family members were above ground, fighting with the military.
The Washington Post’s Salwan Georges reports from Kharkiv, Ukraine where hundreds of civilians are sheltering in a subway station as Russia attacks the country. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)And The Post’s Loveday Morris reported from the Ukrainian-Polish border where a steady stream of people were crossing into Poland on foot. U.S. troops inside Poland are moving closer to help process those fleeing.
The Washington Post’s Loveday Morris is at the Ukrainian-Polish border Feb. 24, where a steady stream of people head toward Poland as Russia attacks Ukraine. (Loveday Morris/The Washington Post)Video: ‘Wake up, the war has started’
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, morning light on Feb. 24 brought residents to gas stations to fill up after Russian forces launched military actions. (Whitney Leaming, Lee Powell/The Washington Post)In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, residents flocked to gas stations in the morning to fill up. They wanted to be prepared, but not everyone was set on leaving.
“We will stay in Ukraine,” Kristina Nimenko, 18, told The Post. “We will stay at home because we are from Ukraine.”
Ukrainians scramble as Russia attacks
Across the country, Ukrainians faced a new reality on Thursday.
Following a night of explosions in Kharkiv, a family with a 5-month-old baby wondered what they should do next, and where they could go to find safety. (Whitney Leaming, Erin Patrick O’Connor/The Washington Post)They got in their cars to drive west.
Ukrainians in Kyiv and Kharkiv jammed the highways attempting to leave the area as Russia launched an attack on the country on Feb. 24. (The Washington Post)But had to avoid Ukrainian carriers in the streets.
Ukrainian amphibious personnel carriers are positioned on the outskirts of Kharkiv as Russian forces advance on the city. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)They fled to train stations.
They took shelter from the strikes in underground subway stations.
Hundreds of people in the eastern city of Kharkiv sheltered inside a subway station on Feb. 24 as Russian troops advanced on the city. (Whitney Leaming, Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)And they looked on as smoke from Russian bombardments rose.
In a Kharkiv hotel lobby, a boy played the piano as Russian tanks advanced on the city.
A young boy plays piano in the lobby of a Kharkiv hotel as Russian troops advance on the city. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)By Thursday morning, it became clear the attack was coming from multiple areas. Video published by Ukraine’s border guard showed Russian military vehicles entering the country through Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
The Ukraine border guard service published a video of Russian military vehicles entering the country on Feb. 24. (Border Service of Ukraine)In central Ukraine, east of the Dnieper River, explosions near a Ukrainian airfield were documented.
A Ukrainian filmed a number of explosions near an airfield and bomb depot in Myrhorod in the center of the country on Feb. 24. (Validated UGC via AP)Explosions across Ukraine
Post reporter Siobhán O’Grady is in Kyiv and could hear loud explosions in Ukraine’s capital. She sent in this report just after the strikes began.
The Washington Post’s Siobhán O’Grady is in Kyiv as explosions were heard in the capital on Feb. 24. (The Washington Post)“From central Kyiv, the booms just after 5 a.m. appeared to be relatively far from major urban centers. As dawn begins to break here, traffic appears to be moving relatively normally with plenty of cars driving calmly and no audible sirens or panicked pedestrians,” O’Grady said.
Large explosions could also be seen and heard in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest after Kyiv.
As Russia launched a military assault against Ukraine on Feb. 24, explosions were heard near Kharkiv, in the country’s Northeast. (Whitney Leaming)Just hours before Putin’s declaration, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for peace in an emotional video address. Speaking directly to the Russian people, in their language, he warned that the Kremlin had ordered nearly 200,000 troops to enter his country.
“If these forces attack us,” Zelensky warned, “if you attempt to take away our country, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. Not attack, defend.”
In an emotional address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 24 that nearly 200,000 Russian troops are across the border in Russia. (Reuters)Satellite images: Continued Russian buildup on Ukraine border
On Wednesday, satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies showed new deployments in western Russia, according to the organization, which has been tracking Moscow’s military movements. Maxar released photos it said showed deployments within 10 miles of the Ukrainian border and less than 50 miles from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The satellite image below showed equipment deployed near Kupino, Russia, some 11 miles from Ukraine’s border, according to Maxar.
In Belarus, about 22 miles from Ukraine’s border, an increased Russian presence was also captured. On Feb. 4, the Bolshoy Bokov airfield, near Mazyr, Belarus, was an empty snowy field.
By Tuesday, equipment had filled the space.
Russian troops are “ready to go,” Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby told reporters Wednesday. “They could attack at any time,” he added, “with a significant military force.”
In eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv, deep worries and defiance
Activists in Kharkiv held a vigil on Feb. 22 to remember Ukraine’s war victims and pray for peace amid a new military escalation by Russia. (Whitney Leaming, Lee Powell/The Washington Post)Activists in Kharkiv, about 50 miles from where Russian troops amassed, held an annual vigil on Tuesday to remember those killed in Ukraine’s years-long conflict with Russian-backed separatists. But this year’s vigil was just as much a memorial as it was an act of defiance.
“Everyone understands that a war has already been declared,” said Voloymyr Chistilin, one of the organizers of Patriots’ Day in Kharkiv. “And this is a critical, decisive moment.”
But life in Kharkiv looked surprisingly normal even as Ukraine absorbed Putin’s latest moves.
Newlyweds posed for photos, the downtown mall was bustling, and grocery stores were stocked — as if people don’t want to give Putin the satisfaction of disturbing daily life.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan, Whitney Leaming and Salwan Georges
Russian troops enter Ukraine
RUSSIA
Belgorod
Valuyki
Kharkiv
LUHANSK
Milove
Strarobilsk
Area held
by Russia-
backed
separatists
Izyum
Lysychansk
UKRAINE
Luhansk
Kramatorsk
Horlivka
Dnipropetrovsk
Shakhty
Donetsk
DONETSK
Zaporizhzhya
Rostov-on-Don
Taganrog
Mariupol
50 MILES
Berdyansk
Melitopol
Yeysk
RUSSIA
THE WASHINGTON POST
Belgorod
RUSSIA
Valuyki
Kharkiv
Milove
LUHANSK
Millerovo
Izyum
UKRAINE
Luhansk
Kramatorsk
Donetsk
Area held by
Russia-backed
separatists
DONETSK
50 MILES
Mariupol
Melitopol
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
Belgorod
Valuyki
Kharkiv
Milove
UKRAINE
LUHANSK
Millerovo
Area
held by
Russia-
backed
separa-
tists
Luhansk
Kramatorsk
Donetsk
DONETSK
50 MILES
Mariupol
RUSSIA
On Monday evening, after Putin recognized the legitimacy of the breakaway territories of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent, he ordered what he called “peacekeeping” troops into the region, only parts of which are controlled by pro-Moscow separatists.
Video from Feb. 22 showed military vehicles on the edge of Donetsk, one of two separatist areas in eastern Ukraine that Russia recognized as independent. (Reuters)The Kremlin said Tuesday that its recognition of the two separatist enclaves covers areas controlled by the Ukrainian government. NATO and Western nations were braced for a full-scale invasion into Ukraine.
Earlier Monday, Putin called a meeting of Russia’s Security Council and grilled members on the merits of recognizing these separatist areas.
Vladimir Putin admonished his head of foreign intelligence during a carefully orchestrated, prerecorded meeting of the Russian Security Council. (The Washington Post)After that meeting, Putin aired an angry, prerecorded speech that recognized the sovereignty of the regions, where fighting first broke out in 2014, and rejected Ukraine’s legitimacy as an independent nation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the West and referred to Ukraine as “a colony” in a televised address on Feb. 21. (The Washington Post)Zelensky later responded to Putin’s speech in a televised address, calling for a “peaceful, diplomatic solution” to the situation. “We are on our land,” he added. “We owe nothing to anybody.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a late night, emergency address on Feb. 22, after Russia recognized the two breakaway regions in east Ukraine. (AP)Daily overview
Putin’s screed came after a sharp increase in violence in eastern Ukraine over the weekend. Civilians in Ukrainian-controlled parts of the east said they thought their homes were being targeted by separatists to provoke a response from Ukrainian forces. U.S. officials repeatedly warned that Russian troops might stage an attack that appeared to come from Ukrainian government forces to justify an invasion.
“We have no doubt in our minds where this shelling is coming from and who is firing it,” Diana Levenets said, pointing to the hills where the separatist forces are posted. “We can literally see where it’s coming from.”
After years of peace, villagers in Ukraine’s Donbas region are enduring a sharp increase in shelling from separatists and fear a Russian invasion could be next. (Whitney Leaming, Erin Patrick O’Connor, Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)Meanwhile, leaders of the separatist areas announced a mass evacuation of civilians, saying they knew of plans for an imminent attack by Ukrainian forces. Buses were escorted by the head of police from Donbas to Rostov, a city in southwestern Russia.
Daily overview
The increase in violence in the east began on Thursday, with shelling from Russian-backed separatists that put civilians in the crossfire.
A Post photographer captured images of a badly damaged kindergarten in Stanytsia Luhanska. No children were harmed, but three adults were injured, according to the Ukrainian military. The kindergarten director describes hustling the children to hide from the shelling in this video.
Context: Uneasy calm on the front lines
Although they have increased in intensity, clashes between Ukrainian soldiers and the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine are nothing new. More than 3,000 civilians have been killed there since 2014, according to the United Nations.
Despite military aid from Western countries and newly delivered equipment, the 209,000 active-duty Ukrainian fighters face a potential battle against Russia. In the trenches, the soldiers acknowledged the challenges ahead.
“Our defense is our job,” Oleksander, a battalion commander, told The Post. “But whoever helps us, we’ll be grateful for it.” He took The Post into the trenches, where his troops were preparing for a possible Russian assault.
Follow a battalion commander through the trenches of eastern Ukraine as he prepares his troops for a possible Russian invasion. (Whitney Shefte, Whitney Leaming, Erin Patrick O’Connor/The Washington Post)— Isabelle Khurshudyan, Whitney Shefte and Michael Robinson Chavez
Military exercises in Belarus
The Washington Post’s Mary Ilyushina observes military drills with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko on Feb. 17. (Mary Ilyushina, Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)As tensions escalated in Ukraine’s east, Russia also was conducting military exercises in Moscow-allied Belarus, which is to Ukraine’s north. Belarus’s southern border is about 50 miles from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
Both countries said Russian troops would withdraw when the exercises ended Feb. 20. When that deadline arrived, both announced that Russian forces would stay in Belarus indefinitely.
Russia started the active phase of military drills in Belarus on Feb. 10. (Reuters)Explainer: Maps that explain the conflict
The strains between Russia and Ukraine involve land borders and strategic influence. Ukraine once was a part of the Soviet Union, a fact that Putin used to question the legitimacy of the country’s independence. He sees Ukraine, which has been an independent nation since 1991, as an integral part of greater Russia.
EST.
RUSSIA
LAT.
Moscow
LITH.
BEL.
Boundary of former
Soviet Union
MOL.
KAZAKHSTAN
GEORGIA
KYRGYZ.
ARMENIA—
AZER.
TAJIK.
NOR.
FIN.
RUSSIA
SWE.
EST.
LAT.
LITH.
Boundary of former
Soviet Union
Moscow
POL.
BEL.
MOL.—
KAZAKHSTAN
GEORGIA
KYRGYZ.
ARMENIA—
AZER.
CHINA
TAJIK.
SYRIA
IRAN
AFGH.
SWE.
NOR.
FIN.
EST.
LAT.
LITH.
Boundary of former
Soviet Union
Moscow
GER.
POL.
BELARUS
MONGOLIA
MOL.—
KAZAKHSTAN
GEORGIA
KYRGYZ.
ARMENIA—
AZER.
CHINA
TAJIK.
SYRIA
IRAN
AFGH.
IRAQ
INDIA
PAK.
He has demanded that Ukraine not join NATO because such a move would increase the alliance’s footprint on Russia’s borders.
JAPAN
CHINA
Alaska
U.S.
RUSSIA
CANADA
Greenland
(DENMARK)
KAZAKH.
BELARUS
ICELAND
FIN.
UKRAINE
NOR.
GEORGIA
POL.
U.K.
GER.
TURKEY
SPAIN
NATO member states
JAPAN
Pacific Ocean
S. KOR.
N. KOR.
CHINA
Alaska
U.S.
RUSSIA
MONG.
CANADA
Greenland
(DENMARK)
KAZAKH.
FIN.
BELARUS
ICELAND
NOR.
UKRAINE
GEORGIA
POL.
U.K.
GER.
TURKEY
FRANCE
SPAIN
NATO member states
CANADA
Alaska
Greenland
U.S.
(DENMARK)
ICELAND
SPAIN
U.K.
FRANCE
NOR.
GER.
SWE.
FIN.
POL.
BELARUS
UKRAINE
TURKEY
JAPAN
CHINA
N. KOR.
GEORGIA
MONGOLIA
In 2014, Russian military forces annexed Crimea on the Black Sea, after Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution ousted a pro-Russian government for a Western-leaning one. Putin backed separatists in the eastern industrial regions that are the flash point of the current actions. On Tuesday, forces entered those eastern regions, and Putin called on Ukraine to accept that Crimea is Russian territory, a continuation of his long push to return Ukraine to Russia’s fold.
Percentage of population that identified Russian as their first language
(2001 census, most recent data available)
100%
BELARUS
POLAND
RUSSIA
Chernobyl
Lviv
Kyiv
Dnieper
Kharkiv
Luhansk
UKRAINE
Dnipropetrovsk
Donetsk
Separatist-
controlled
area
ROMANIA
100 MILES
Odessa
Crimea
RUSSIA
Sevastopol
Black Sea
Percentage of population that identified
Russian as their first language
(2001 census, most recent data available)
100%
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Separatist-
controlled
area
POL.
Kyiv
Lviv
Kharkiv
Luhansk
UKRAINE
Donetsk
MOL.
ROMANIA
Odessa
Crimea
Sevastopol
200 MILES
Black Sea
Percentage of population that identified Russian as their first language
(2001 census, most recent data )
100%
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Kyiv
Lviv
UKRAINE
Luhansk
Donetsk
MOL.
Separatist-
controlled
area
ROM.
Odessa
Crimea
Black Sea
200 MILES
Ruby Mellen reported from Washington.