Ukrainian artillery fires in the fiercely-contested Bakhmut region of eastern Ukraine on November 8, 2022.Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images
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Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24, changing European history.
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Since then, almost eight million Ukrainians have fled bombings and devastation in the country.
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The scale, devastation, and humanity of the conflict is captured in striking images like these.
On February 24 this year, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor Ukraine, prompting vast lines of traffic out of Kyiv, the capital, as people fled.
Inhabitants of Kyiv, Ukraine, leave the city following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, 2022.Pierre Crom/Getty Images
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly announced martial law, forcing many Ukrainians to say goodbye to their loved ones to fight.
A Ukrainian soldier says goodbye to his girlfriend before departing in the direction of Kyiv at the central train station in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on March 9, 2022.Aleksey Filippov/AFP via Getty Images
Tides of people pushed to evacuate as Russian forces blasted the smaller cities surrounding Kyiv, prompting scenes like this in Irpin.
Ukrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee crossing the Irpin river in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 5, 2022.AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
Since the start of the war, around 7.8 million Ukrainians have left the country, 4.8 million of which have sought refuge in Europe, according to the UNHCR.
Thw wounded Ukrainian teacher Olena Kurilo made international headlines with this picture of her standing outside her destroyed home.
Olena Kurilo after a strike on an apartment complex outside of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on February 25, 2022.Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Kurilo needed multiple surgeries in Poland and the UK to regain some of her eyesight, she told Anadolu Agency last month.
In March, Russia bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol, injuring this pregnant woman. The woman and her baby later died.
An injured pregnant woman outside a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 9, 2022.AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Source: The Associated Press
In April, mass graves were uncovered in the Ukrainian town of Bucha in the wake of Russia’s occupation there. The images sparked revolution around the world.
A team pulls a body from a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, in April 2022.Erin Trieb for Insider
Russia has denied responsibility for the killings of civilians in Bucha, The Guardian reported.
Russia’s invasion had a profound impact on Zelenskyy, who is seen here both before the war in 2021, and during a visit to Bucha in April 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin, Germany, on July 12, 2021 (left) and in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 4, 2022 (right).Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Stefanie Loos/Pool via Getty Images
Source: Insider
In May, the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol became the last pocket of resistance to Russian attack. Ukrainian soldiers stayed in the plant for months, rarely seeing sunlight. They eventually surrendered, but were hailed as heroes in Ukraine for their long resistance.
A Ukrainian soldier inside the ruined Azovstal steel plant stands under a ray of sunlight in his shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 7, 2022.Dmytro Kozatski/Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office via AP
Fighters of the Azov Batallion said their wounded comrades were living in unsanitary conditions “without the necessary medication and even food.”
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Two injured Ukrainian servicemen inside the Azovstal iron and steel works factory in eastern Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 10, 2022.Dmytro Kozatsky/Azov Special Forces Regiment of /AFP via Getty Images
Ukraine was able to evacuate all of the remaining people in the steel plant in May, effectively ceding the city to Russia.
Source: ITV News
This heartbreaking photo, also taken in Mariupol, shows a father cradling the body of his teenage son who was killed by a Russian bomb.
Serhii, the father of Iliya, cries over his teenage son’s lifeless body on a stretcher in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 2, 2022.AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Source: The New York Post
The fighting between the two countries has been relentless, dominated by artillery fire. These photo from Izyum, northeastern Ukraine, shows aa field covered in craters from shelling.
A field is covered with craters left by the shelling close to Izium, Ukraine, on September 13, 2022.Kostiantyn Liberov via AP Images
The most senior US general, Mark Milley, said in November that around 100,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded since February, according to the BBC.
Ukraine has been provided with military equipment like artillery pieces, long-range rocket launchers, and tanks, by more than 30 countries.
A Ukrainian soldier fires toward Russian positions outside Bakhmut, Ukraine, on November 8, 2022.Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images
Source: BBC
Ukraine has had some positive moments in the war, like the recapturing of the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, which led to this heartfelt moment between a civilian and a soldier.
A Kherson resident kisses a Ukrainian soldier in central Kherson, Ukraine, on November 13, 2022.AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
But Russia has changed its tactics in the last few months, attacking vital power infrastructure in Ukraine and thereby plunging millions into darkness.
People sit in a café without power on December 09, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine.Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
The war shows no sign of stopping. Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it may be a “long process.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on October 28, 2022.Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Source: The Washington Post
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