The invasion began at dawn on 24 February. Fighting began in Luhansk Oblast at 3:40 a.m. Kyiv time near
Milove on the border with Russia. The main infantry and tank attacks were launched in four spearheads, creating a northern front launched towards Kyiv from Belarus, a southern front from Crimea, a southeastern front from Russian-controlled Donbas, and an eastern front from Russia towards
Kharkiv and
Sumy. Russian vehicles were subsequently marked with a white
Z military symbol (a non-
Cyrillic letter), believed to be a measure to prevent
friendly fire. Immediately after the invasion began, Zelenskyy declared
martial law in Ukraine in a first video speech. The same evening, he ordered a
general mobilisation of all Ukrainian males between 18 and 60 years old, prohibiting them from leaving the country.
Wagner Group mercenaries and
Kadyrovites contracted by the Kremlin reportedly made
several attempts to assassinate Zelenskyy, including an operation involving several hundred mercenaries meant to infiltrate Kyiv with the aim of killing the Ukrainian president. The Ukrainian government said anti-war officials within Russia's
FSB shared the plans with them. Zelenskyy appeared defiant in
video messages on 24 through 26 February, that he and his cabinet is still in Kyiv. On 26 February NATO met and its countries pledged military aid for Ukraine and on 27 February Germany called the invasion a historic watershed. That day in the evening Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrence into alert. The Russian invasion was unexpectedly met by fierce Ukrainian resistance. In Kyiv, Russia failed to take the city and was repulsed in the battles of
Irpin,
Hostomel, and
Bucha. The Russians tried to encircle the capital, but its defenders under
Oleksandr Syrskyi held their ground, effectively using Western
Javelin anti-tank missiles and
Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to thin Russian supply lines and stall the offensive. . The settlement was captured on 3 March 2022. On the southern front, Russian forces had captured the regional capital of
Kherson by 2 March. A column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles was
ambushed on 9 March outside of
Brovary and sustained heavy losses that forced them to retreat. The Russian army adopted
siege tactics on the western front around the key cities of Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, but failed to capture them due to stiff resistance and logistical setbacks. In
Mykolaiv Oblast, Russian forces advanced as far as
Voznesensk, but were repelled and pushed back south of Mykolaiv. On 25 March, the
Russian Defence Ministry stated that the first stage of the "military operation" in Ukraine was "generally complete", that the Ukrainian military forces had suffered serious losses, and the Russian military would now concentrate on the "liberation of
Donbas." The "first stage" of the invasion was conducted on four fronts, including one towards western
Kyiv from Belarus by the Russian
Eastern Military District, comprising the
29th,
35th, and
36th Combined Arms Armies. A second axis, deployed towards eastern Kyiv from Russia by the
Central Military District (northeastern front), comprised the
41st Combined Arms Army and the
2nd Guards Combined Arms Army. By 7 April, Russian troops deployed to the northern front by the Russian Eastern Military District pulled back from the Kyiv offensive, reportedly to resupply and redeploy to the Donbas region in an effort to reinforce the renewed invasion of southeastern Ukraine. The northeastern front, including the Central Military District, was similarly withdrawn for resupply and redeployment to southeastern Ukraine. Russia tried to seize Kyiv quickly, with
Spetsnaz infiltrating into the city supported by airborne operations and a rapid mechanised advance from the north, but failed.
The Washington Post, which described the quote as "one of the most-cited lines of the Russian invasion", was not entirely sure of the comment's accuracy. Reporter
Glenn Kessler said it came from "a single source, but on the surface it appears to be a good one". Russian forces advancing on Kyiv from Belarus
gained control of the ghost town of
Chernobyl.
Russian Airborne Forces attempted to seize two key airfields near Kyiv, launching an
airborne assault on Antonov Airport, and a similar
landing at Vasylkiv, near
Vasylkiv Air Base, on 26 February. , the largest aircraft ever built, was destroyed during the
Battle of Antonov Airport. By early March, further Russian advances along the west side of the Dnipro were limited, after suffering setbacks from Ukrainian defence. The London-based
think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) assessed the Russian performance from the north and east as "stalled". Advances along the Chernihiv axis had largely halted as a
siege of the city began. Russian forces also continued advancing from the northwest of Kyiv, capturing
Bucha,
Hostomel, and
Vorzel by 5 March, though
Irpin remained
contested as of 9 March. By 11 March, it was reported that the lengthy convoy had largely dispersed, taking up positions that offered tree cover. Rocket launchers were also identified. On 16 March, Ukrainian forces began a counter-offensive to repel Russian forces approaching Kyiv from several surrounding cities. By 20 March, the Russian military appeared to be waging a rapid invasion to achieve its apparent primary goal of the seizure of Kyiv, along with the occupation of Eastern Ukraine and the overthrow of the Ukrainian government. Russian forces quickly became stalled while approaching Kyiv due to several factors, including the disparity in morale and performance between Ukrainian and Russian forces, the Ukrainian use of sophisticated man-portable weapons provided by Western allies, poor Russian logistics and equipment performance, the failure of the Russian Air Force to achieve air superiority, and Russian military attrition during their siege of major cities. Unable to achieve a quick victory in Kyiv, Russian forces switched strategies and began using standoff weapons, indiscriminate bombing, and siege warfare. On 25 March, the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kyiv resulted in several towns, including
Makariv, being retaken to the east and west of Kyiv. As part of a general retreat of Russian forces north of Kyiv, as well as attacks on Russian formations by the Ukrainian military, Russian troops in the Bucha area retreated north by the end of March. Ukrainian forces entered the city on 1 April. Ukraine claimed to recapture the entire region around Kyiv, including Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel, by 2 April, with evidence of war crimes being uncovered in
Bucha. On 6 April, NATO secretary general
Jens Stoltenberg said that the Russian "retraction, resupply, and redeployment" of their troops from the Kyiv area should be interpreted as an expansion of Putin's plans for his military actions against Ukraine, by redeploying and concentrating his forces on Eastern Ukraine and Mariupol within the next two weeks, as a precursor to the further expansion of Putin's actions against the rest of Ukraine.
Northeastern front Russian forces advanced into
Chernihiv Oblast on 24 February, besieging its administrative capital within
four days of fighting. On 25 February
Ukrainian forces lost control over Konotop. As
street fighting took place in the city of
Sumy, just from the Russo-Ukrainian border, Ukrainian forces claimed that on 28 February that 100 Russian armoured vehicles had been destroyed and dozens of soldiers captured following a
Bayraktar TB2 drone and artillery attack on a large Russian
column near
Lebedyn in
Sumy Oblast. Russian forces
also attacked Okhtyrka, deploying
thermobaric weapons. On 4 March,
Frederick Kagan wrote that the Sumy axis was then "the most successful and dangerous Russian avenue of advance on Kyiv", and commented that the geography favoured mechanised advances as the terrain "is flat and sparsely populated, offering few good defensive positions". On 7 April, the governor of Sumy Oblast said that Russian troops were gone, but had left behind rigged explosives and other hazards.
Southern front near Mariupol, 7 March 2022 On 24 February, Russian forces took control of the
North Crimean Canal, allowing Crimea to obtain water from the
Dnieper, which had been cut off since 2014. On 26 February, the
siege of Mariupol began as the attack moved east linking to separatist-held Donbas. En route, Russian forces entered
Berdiansk and
captured it. On 25 February, Russian units from the DPR were fighting near
Pavlopil as they moved on Mariupol. By evening, the
Russian Navy began an
amphibious assault on the coast of the
Sea of Azov west of Mariupol. A US defence official said that Russian forces were deploying thousands of
marines from this
beachhead. The
Russian 22nd Army Corps approached the
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on 26 February and
besieged Enerhodar. A fire began, but the Ukrainian military said that essential equipment was undamaged. A third Russian attack group from Crimea moved northwest and captured the bridge over the Dnieper. On 2 March, Russian troops took
Kherson; this was the first major city to fall to Russian forces. Russian troops moved on
Mykolaiv and
attacked it two days later. They were repelled by Ukrainian forces. After renewed missile attacks on 14 March in Mariupol, the Ukrainian government said more than 2,500 had died. By 18 March, Mariupol was completely encircled and fighting reached the city centre, hampering efforts to evacuate civilians. On 20 March, an art school sheltering around 400 people, was
destroyed by Russian bombs. The Russians demanded surrender, and the Ukrainians refused. On 27 March, Ukrainian deputy prime minister
Olha Stefanishyna said that "(m)ore than 85 percent of the whole town is destroyed." Putin told Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on 29 March that the bombardment of Mariupol would only end when the Ukrainians surrendered. On 1 April, Russian troops refused safe passage into Mariupol to 50 buses sent by the
United Nations to evacuate civilians, as peace talks continued in Istanbul. On 3 April, following the retreat of Russian forces from Kyiv, Russia expanded its attack on southern Ukraine further west, with bombardment and strikes against Odesa, Mykolaiv, and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Eastern front In the east, Russian troops
attempted to capture Kharkiv, less than from the Russian border, and met strong Ukrainian resistance. On 25 February, the
Millerovo air base was attacked by Ukrainian military forces with
OTR-21 Tochka missiles, which according to Ukrainian officials, destroyed several
Russian Air Force planes and started a fire. On 1 March,
Denis Pushilin, head of the DPR, announced that DPR forces had almost completely surrounded the city of
Volnovakha. On 2 March, Russian forces were repelled from
Sievierodonetsk during
an attack against the city. On the same day, Ukrainian forces initiated
a counter-offensive on
Horlivka, controlled by the DPR.
Izium was captured by Russian forces on 1 April after a monthlong battle. On 25 March, the Russian defence ministry said it would seek to occupy major cities in eastern Ukraine. On 31 March,
PBS News reported renewed shelling and missile attacks in Kharkiv, as bad or worse than before, as peace talks with Russia were to resume in Istanbul. Amid the heightened Russian shelling of Kharkiv on 31 March, Russia reported a helicopter strike against an oil supply depot approximately north of the border in
Belgorod, and accused Ukraine of the attack. Ukraine denied responsibility. By 7 April, the renewed massing of Russian invasion troops and tank divisions around the towns of Izium,
Sloviansk, and
Kramatorsk prompted Ukrainian government officials to advise the remaining residents near the eastern border of Ukraine to evacuate to western Ukraine within 2–3 days, given the absence of arms and munitions previously promised to Ukraine by then.
Western Ukraine On 14 March, Russian forces conducted multiple
cruise missile attacks on a military training facility in
Yavoriv,
Lviv Oblast, close to the Polish border. Local governor
Maksym Kozytskyy reported that at least 35 people had been killed in the attacks. On 18 March, Russia expanded the attack to Lviv, with Ukrainian military officials saying initial information suggested that the missiles which hit Lviv were likely air-launched cruise missiles originating from warplanes flying over the Black Sea.
Air conflict On 24 February, Russian forces
attacked the Chuhuiv air base, which housed
Bayraktar TB2 drones. The attack caused damage to fuel storage areas and infrastructure. The next day, the
Millerovo air base was attacked by Ukrainian military forces using
OTR-21 Tochka missiles. According to Ukrainian officials, this destroyed several
Russian Air Force planes and set the airbase on fire. In the
Zhytomyr Airport attack on 27 February, it was reported that Russia used
9K720 Iskander missile systems, located in Belarus, to attack the civilian
Zhytomyr Airport. Russia lost at least ten aircraft on 5 March. On 6 March, the
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that 88 Russian aircraft had been destroyed since the war began. However, an anonymous senior US defence official told Reuters on 7 March that Russia still had the "vast majority" of its fighter jets and helicopters that had been amassed near Ukraine available to fly. After the first month of the invasion, Justin Bronk, a British military observer, counted the Russian aircraft losses at 15 fixed-wing aircraft and 35 helicopters, but noted that the true total was certainly higher. On 13 March, Russian forces conducted multiple
cruise missile attacks on a
military training facility in
Yavoriv,
Lviv Oblast, close to the Polish border. Local governor
Maksym Kozytskyy reported that at least 35 people had been killed in the attacks. , Ukraine
Naval conflict Ukraine lies on the
Black Sea, which only has access through the Turkish-held
Bosphorus and
Dardanelles straits. On 28 February, Turkey invoked the 1936
Montreux Convention and sealed off the straits to Russian warships not registered as having Black Sea home bases and not returning to their ports of origin. This prevented the passage of four Russian naval vessels through the
Turkish Straits. On 24 February, the
State Border Guard Service of Ukraine announced that an
attack on Snake Island by Russian Navy ships had begun. The cruiser and patrol boat bombarded the island with their deck guns. When the Russian warship identified itself and instructed the Ukrainian soldiers stationed on the island to surrender, their response was "
Russian warship, go fuck yourself!" After the bombardment, a detachment of Russian soldiers landed and took control of
Snake Island. Russia stated on 26 February that US drones were supplying intelligence to the Ukrainian navy to help target Russian warships in the Black Sea, which the US denied. By 3 March, the Ukrainian frigate , the flagship of the Ukrainian navy, was
scuttled in Mykolaiv to prevent its capture by Russian forces. On 14 March, the Russian source RT reported that the Russian Armed Forces had captured about a dozen Ukrainian ships in Berdiansk, including the
Polnocny-class landing ship Yuri Olefirenko. On 24 March, Ukrainian officials said that a Russian
landing ship docked in Berdiansk was destroyed by a Ukrainian rocket attack. == Aftermath ==