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For over a year, Russia has been invading Ukraine and attempting to overthrow its independence. This has resulted in the occupation of some of Ukraine’s land and the destruction of much of the country. Thousands of lives have been lost and millions of people have been displaced due to this aggression, making it the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
The Russians initiated total warfare on February 24th, 2022, at practically 5 a.m., only moments after Vladimir Putin declared a ‘special military operation’ to ‘demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.’
Russian troops crossed into Ukraine from the east and south and Belarusian territory from the north. Ukraine was also attacked from Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014, and the Moscow-dependent separatist-controlled part of Donbas.
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenski, announced the introduction of martial law, which barred males aged eighteen to sixty from leaving the country. An abundance of Ukrainians took up arms and became members of the Territorial Defence forces.
For the past twelve months, the conflict has caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people, both civilians and military personnel. Despite the death toll, the President of the Russian Federation has yet to take any action to bring an end to the bloodshed.
Below are just a few articles that appeared immediately after the beginning of the so-called ‘special military operation,’ the brutal, fatal and disastrous war.