What’s the latest?
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was seized by Russian military forces, according to
regional authorities, after a fire sparked by overnight shelling burned for several hours
at the largest facility of its kind in Europe. The head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency said there had been no release of radiation. The death toll from
Russian airstrikes in a residential district of the northern city of Chernihiv rose to 47,
regional authorities said.
Fire breaks out at the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant:
Drone footage shows how explosions destroyed parts of the town of Borodyanka, near
Kyiv:
A missile appears to hit a residential building in central Chernihiv:
Drone shots from Enerhodar in the south of Ukraine:
What has happened since Russia invaded?
On Thursday 24 February, Russia attacked Ukraine along multiple axes, bringing to a
calamitous end weeks of fruitless diplomatic efforts by western leaders to avert war.
Fighting and other military activity took place around and on the way to Kyiv.
A substantial attack was aimed at the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Russian forces also headed north and east from Crimea.
On Friday 25 February, Russian forces reached the outskirts of Kyiv and carried out an
amphibious assault from the Sea of Azov near Mariupol. The shape of the Russian
incursion became clearer.
On Saturday 26 February, Russian forces in control of territory to the north-west of Kyiv
continued their assault on the capital.
Elsewhere, heavy fighting was reported in and around Kharkiv and there were
Ukrainian counterattacks in some places previously claimed by Russian forces.
On Monday 28 February, Russian rocket attacks killed dozens of people in Kharkiv.
Pre-dawn blasts were heard again in Kyiv and in Mariupol, which was surrounded by
Russian forces and under heavy attack.
On Tuesday 1 March, Russian forces bombarded the government headquarters in
Kharkiv, and the armoured column continued rolling towards the capital.
On Wednesday 2 March, Moscow’s forces took the port and train station in the
strategically important city of Kherson, on the Black Sea. Russian paratroopers landed
in Kharkiv (pictured below) overnight, after several days of fierce bombardment that
killed or wounded dozens of civilians. Kyiv came under more heavy shelling as Russian
forces stepped up their offensive and moved closer towards the capital in an apparent
attempt to encircle it. Mariupol was reportedly surrounded by Russian troops.
A week into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on Thursday 3 March, the Black Sea port
of Kherson became the first major Ukrainian target to fall under the de facto control of
Moscow’s forces.
Russian artillery and missiles continued to bombard other big cities, including Kharkiv
and Kyiv, where several large explosions were heard overnight. But a long Russian
convoy’s advance on the capital was delayed by “staunch Ukrainian resistance,
mechanical breakdown and congestion” and it was still more than 19 miles (30km) from
the centre of the city, Britain’s defence ministry said.
Mariupol city council said Russia was constantly and deliberately shelling critical
civilian infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian port, leaving it without water, heating
or power, and preventing supplies being brought in or people being evacuated.
Residents in Odesa were increasing preparations to defend it against a potential Russian
amphibious landing, amid sightings of a convoy of Russian warships.
The international criminal court (ICC) opened an investigation into possible war crimes
in Ukraine after 39 countries formally referred reports of atrocities, the largest referral it
had ever received. And more than 1 million people had so far fled Ukraine in the fastest
refugee exodus this century, the UN said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/russias-war-in-ukraine-complete-guide-in-maps-
video-and-pictures
