The Russian invasion of Ukraine celebrates today, February 24, its first anniversary with the epicenter of the battles located in the Donetsk region, after the Ukrainian Armed Forces have managed in recent months to repel Russia’s advances and even recover territories in various regions in the east and south of the country.
The offensive, which received the name of “special military operation” by Russian President Vladimir Putin was planned as a blitzkrieg which had the objective of taking the entire Donbas and advancing towards the capital, kyiv, in a few days to remove the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, from power. However, Ukraine’s military response and the support given to Kyiv by its Western allies has frustrated the expectations of the Russian leadership, which has seen its army suffer heavy casualties and has relied heavily on a bombing strategy. and large-scale artillery attacks in the absence of progress on the ground.
The invasion began with a large-scale offensive by land, sea and air in which more than a dozen cities were attacked, including the surroundings of Kyiv, with a landing in the city of Odesa and with Russian troops crossing the border at various points. Likewise, Russian troops reinforced their positions in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, whose independence was recognized by Putin days before the start of the offensive.
In the first hours of the invasion, Russian troops seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, while forces deployed on the Crimean peninsula (annexed in 2014) entered Ukrainian territory from the south. The last days of February 2022 saw Russian forces focus their attention around Kyiv., prompting the Ukrainian authorities to call on citizens to arm themselves to fight “the occupiers.” Thus, Russian troops managed to seize territories in the south, in the Kherson and Melitopol regions, as well as in Kharkov, Chernigov and the Kyiv region, while progress was made in the Donbas area. However, these advances were slowed down by the resistance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, reinforced by the mobilization decrees signed by Zelensky, despite which Russia managed to take Borodianka, in the outskirts of the capital.
In March, the front line moved north in the southern part of the country after the Russian troops took the city of Kherson and advanced towards Mikolaiv, while surrounding Mariupol, the scene of a siege for months that resulted in the almost total destruction of the city, which ended up falling in its entirety in May. In addition to pressure from the south, which sought to connect Crimea with the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, Russian forces tried to consolidate their advances in Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv.
Advances in the south also led to fighting around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which finally fell into Russian hands amid international alarm over the possibility of a nuclear accident. Regarding the situation around Kiev, the fighting focused on Kozarovichi, Gostomel (where the main airfield of the Ukrainian Army is located, taken over by Russian forces), Stoyanka, Bucha and Irpin, from where thousands of civilians fled towards the capital.
Russian withdrawal and turn to Donbas
The advances derived on March 9 in a agreement between Moscow and Kyiv to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilianswhile Ukraine accused Russia of forcibly transferring the population to its territory from the occupied areas.
Likewise, the month was marked by an agreement in the Turkish city of Istanbul that led to a “drastic” reduction of Russian military operations against Kyiv and Chernigov, followed by a withdrawal of Russian troops from these areas. The withdrawal led to a cascade of accusations against Moscow for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the surroundings of Kyiv, especially in Bucha, where the Ukrainian authorities denounced the discovery of mass graves and dozens of executed.
The withdrawal was the symbol of the collapse of the blitzkrieg that Moscow planned to take the Ukrainian capital. In addition, it led to a new turn to the east of the focus of the fighting, with its epicenter in the Donbas region. So, during the first days of April the Russian troops took Izium, in an attempt to connect the territories it controlled in Kharkiv with this region. Thus, they managed to advance towards Kreminna, Severodonetsk and Popasna to encircle Kramatorsk, the scene of a missile attack on its train station in May that left dozens dead.
The war then moved into a phase of meager territorial gains, although Russia consolidated some successes in the east while resorting to bombing campaigns against military targets, civilians and critical infrastructure elsewhere in Ukraine, including the capital Kiev and points located near the border with Poland, including Lviv.
Ukrainian advances and Russian mobilization
In contrast, the Ukrainian Army began to add a series of territorial advances from July taking advantage of the concentration of Russian forces in Donbas, recapturing areas through multi-front offensives east of the Dnipro River. The advances allowed Ukrainian troops to push Russia away from Mykolaiv and push Moscow’s troops towards Kherson, while also managing to liberate various territories in the Kharkiv region. Although the situation remained in these dynamics during the summer, September meant the materialization of the collapse of the Russian front line due to a surprise offensive that led Russia to withdraw from the city of Izium, recaptured by Ukraine on September 10thus extending its authority over almost the entire Kharkov region.
According to data collected by ‘The New York Times’, this offensive allowed Ukraine to recover nearly 8,800 kilometers of territory. Despite these defeats and their withdrawal from various areas, Moscow announced the annexation of the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Jershon and Zaporiyia, rejected by the international community. For his part, Putin responded with a “partial mobilization” to make up for battlefield lossesdespite which Ukrainian troops took the strategically important city of Liman on October 1 and accelerated their advances in the south of the country, a two-front counteroffensive that eased Russian pressure on these parts of the country.
To these setbacks was added the announcement by Russia on its withdrawal to the left bank of the Dnipro river at Jershonallowing Ukraine to recapture part of the city, which had been a key point in Russian efforts to unite the country’s southern coast.
Now, since the onset of winter, the front lines remain relatively static, in a trench warfare that has led experts to draw parallels with the First World War.
However, in recent weeks Russia has made progressincluding the takes in January the city of Soledar and an approximation to Bajmut. The offensive, backed by mercenaries from the Wagner Group, has prompted Ukraine to order the immediate evacuation of Bakhmut, amid fears of a new large-scale offensive by Russia to coincide with the first anniversary of the war.