Civilians and servicemen attend funerals of Oleh Yashchyshyn, Serhiy Melnyk and Rostyslav Romanchuk, Ukrainian servicemen killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at Lychakiv cemetery in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on March 15, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance
One month ago, just after 4:45 a.m. Kyiv time on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to announce what he called a “special operation” to “disarm and de-Nazify” Ukraine. His address was immediately followed by missile strikes on major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, and multi-directional assaults towards Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kherson, and Mariupol.
Since then, Russian forces have launched more than 1,100 missilies onto the Ukrainian territory, according to Pentagon.
Russia has been shelling Ukrainian cities, large and small, forcing over 10 million Ukrainians to flee their homes, with 6.5 million being displaced inside the country and 3.6 million going abroad, according to the United Nations.
Russian forces have besieged several Ukrainian cities, attacked agreed-upon humanitarian corridors for evacuation and have committed multiple atrocities towards civilians, which have shocked the Ukrainian nation.
At least 977 civilians were killed and 1,594 injured, according to the UN, but the actual figures are belived to be significantly higher. According to the local authorities in Mariupol, a besieged seaport city in south-eastern Ukraine, over 2,000 residents were killed in the city alone. Russia's war took the lives of at least 128 children and injured at least 172 other children, according to Prosecutor General's Office.
Civilian infrastructure has been damaged across the country. Some 4,431 residential buildings, 548 schools, and 135 health care institutions were partially or completely destroyed, according to the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group.
The body of a rocket stuck in a flat after recent shelling on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv on Feb. 24, 2022. (AFP/ Getty Images)Residents of Severodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast, hide in a basement during the heavy shelling by Russian forces on Feb. 28, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (2L) and Chief of Russia's General Staff Valery Gerasimov in Moscow on Feb. 27, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)People remove personal belongings from a burning house after being shelled in the city of Irpin, outside Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Ukrainians fleeing the war to Poland get for the train at Lviv train station on Feb. 28, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Around 100,000 protesters crowd around the victory column and close to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to demonstrate against Russia's war in Ukraine on Feb. 27, 2022.(AFP/Getty Images)People cross a destroyed bridge as they evacuate from the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling and bombing on March 5, 2022. (AFP/ Getty Images)U.S. President Joe Biden takes questions as he addresses the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the White House on Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington, DC. (AFP/Getty Images)A Ukrainian soldier holds a Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW) that was used to destroy a Russian armored personal carrier (APC) in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on March 12, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A staff member and the parents of a newborn baby hide in the bomb shelter of a maternity hospital on March 2, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Getty Images)Ukrainian servicemen patrol in the streets as security measures tightened due to the ongoing Russian attacks in the Black Sea port city of Odesa on March 14, 2022. Volunteers have placed sandbags around one of Odesa’s landmarks, the monument to Duke of Richelieu, to protect it from potential Russian bombardment. (Getty Images)Service members of Ukrainian Territorial Defense, Valery (3rdL) and Lesya (2ndL), get married not far from a checkpoint on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 6, 2022. (AFP/ Getty Images)President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference in Kyiv on March 3, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)Ukrainian emergency workers carry an injured pregnant woman from a maternity hospital that was damaged by Russian shelling in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast on March 9, 2022. The mother and her unborn baby died. (Evgeniy Maloletka)Residents of Kherson block Russian military vehicles as Russian troops attempt to occupy the city. Kherson has been under the Russian control since March 5, 2022.A woman learns how to use an AK-47 assault rifle during a civilian self-defense course in the outskirts of Lviv on March 4, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A mass grave in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, on March 9, 2022. According to local authorities, over 2,000 residents have been killed in the city since Feb. 24, 2022. (Mstyslav Chernov)A wounded woman is seen following an airstrike that damaged a residential building outside of Kharkiv on Feb. 24, 2022. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)Ukrainian soldiers search for bodies in the debris at the military school hit by Russian rockets the day before, in Mykolaiv on March 19, 2022. Ukrainian media reported that the attack had killed at least 40 Ukrainian soldiers at their brigade headquarters. (AFP/Getty Images)An evacuated resident is comforted by Svitlana Vodolaga, spokeswoman for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (R) outside a burning apartment building in Kyiv on March 15, 2022, following attacks on residential areas that had killed at least two people. (AFP/Getty Images)
"Operations have resumed in the operating rooms, which were damaged by the blast wave. The hospital cannot stop providing assistance and treating patients for even a minute."
"He's trying to back out of the rare earth deal and if he does that he's got some problems, big, big problems," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29.
The comment followed Trump's phone call with NBC, during which he reportedly said he is "pissed off and very angry" about Putin's continued focus on President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"For several weeks, there has been a U.S. proposal for an unconditional ceasefire. And almost every day, in response to this proposal, there are Russian drones, bombs, artillery shelling, and ballistic strikes," Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb suggested that April 20 is a “good time for a complete ceasefire without any conditions” in Ukraine, Yle reported on March 30.
Ukrainian director and journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s documentary 2000 Meters to Andriivka received the F:ACT Award at Denmark’s CPH:DOX documentary film festival, organizers announced on March 29.
Sweden has allocated 80 million Swedish kronor ($7.6 million) to support Ukraine's drone and demining capabilities as part of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), the Swedish government announced in a press release on March 28.
U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly "pissed off" and "very angry" regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin's fixation over President Volodymyr Zelensky, NBC News reported on March 30.
In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur discusses how the Trump administration conducts foreign policy as Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is embroiled in several controversies amid ceasefire negotiations. Also, Ukrainians experience yet another cyberattack, this time on the national railway service.
The Moskva sank on April 14, 2022, after being struck by two Ukrainian R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles. The attack marked one of Kyiv’s most significant early victories in the full-scale war and dealt a major blow to Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
Russian occupants use such electronic warfare systems to "suppress radio communications and conduct electronic intelligence. The loss of such a system significantly weakens the capabilities of the aggressor’s army," Ukraine's military intelligence wrote.
"I don't really think about that. I don't really care," Trump said when asked what message an American takeover of Greenland would send to Russia. "Greenland's a very separate subject, very different."
Following the "unofficial" visit, Trump announced he would buy Finnish icebreaker vessels — critical to U.S. efforts to expand its power in the Arctic.
If Poland wants to sustain an adequate number of reserves, the return of mandatory military service is "inevitable," Operational Commander Maciej Klisz said.
A Russian drone attack killed two people and injured at least 25 late on March 29, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. Five children are among the wounded.
Ukraine will be seeking for the U.S. to commit to more U.S. investment and clarify how a reconstruction fund would operate, a person familiar with the matter said.
"We expect a response – a serious one. We are working toward a response. A strong response is urgently needed – above all from the U.S., from Europe, from everyone in the world who has placed their bets on diplomacy. Russia must be forced into peace," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 29.
"Russia has committed genocide, Russia continues to commit genocide on an industrial scale, every day, every single minute," Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said in an interview with The Sun released on March 29.
(Updated: )
