In its first offensive, the Russian military reached the outskirts of Ukraine that it occupied for weeks before leaving the region to focus war efforts on eastern Ukraine. After the region around Kyiv was retaken, mass-graves were discovered in Bucha and signs of Russian atrocities were seen. In this photo from May 16, 2022, floral tributes and photographs of the victims of the battles for Irpin and Bucha that mark the graves in Irpin cemetery are seen. In the first few weeks, the towns around Kyiv were heavily damaged in Russia's failed attempt to take Kyiv.
An elderly man walks among the graves of unidentified people killed during Russian occupation in Bucha, a town near Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The dead were reburied from a mass grave. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the town by the Russians, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Just before the first anniversary of the Ukraine War, US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukrainian capital Kyiv, becoming the first President of the United States to visit an active warzone in over 100 years. The visit was the firmest affirmation for the US support of Ukraine. Biden travelled for hours in a train from neighbouring Poland to Kyiv in a trip organised in utmost secrecy and kept in wraps until his arrival in Ukraine.
At the time, the-then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the most high-profile world leader to visit Ukraine in a show of support to the country against Russia's ongoing invasion.
An elderly woman walks among the graves along the Alley of Heroes where Ukrainian soldiers who died in the Ukraine War are buried, in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, on February 22, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For the Ukrainian troops holding Russian forces from cities like Kostyantynivka, the task is becoming harder as their resources fall lower and lower.
Two Russian soldiers patrol in the Mariupol drama theatre in Mariupol on April 12, 2022. Before the Russians took over Mariupol, they bombed the city in a long assault that devastated the most of the city and destroyed much of the public infrastructure.
Ukrainian soldiers work with 'pion' artillery in the northern direction of the Donbass frontline as the Ukraine War continues in the Donetsk region.
A pro-Russian rebel walks by a destroyed Ukrainian tank on February 7, 2015 in Uglegorsk in eastern Ukraine. Since 2014, pro-Russian fighters had been waging an insurgency against the Ukrainian government in the eastern part of the country. In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers help an elderly woman to cross a destroyed bridge as she evacuates the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on March 8, 2022. More than 2 million people had to flee Ukraine in the first two weeks of the war as Russia bombed civilian areas indiscriminately and atrocities were reported in regions occupied by Russians.
People rest in a temporary shelter for Ukrainian refugees located near the Polish-Ukrainian border in a former shopping centre in Przemysl, Poland, on March 8, 2022. Poland alone has received nearly half of all those fleeing Ukraine with figures dated March 8, 2022 showing that 1.2 million had crossed into the country in the past 13 days.
Ukrainian soldier waves Ukrainian national flag while standing on top of an armoured personnel carrier (APC) in Hostomel, Ukraine. While Russian President Vladimir Putin hoped to win the war within weeks and overthrow the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainians have managed to defend their country for two years in what has surprised even staunch supporters of the country.
A Ukrainian serviceman helps evacuees gathered under a destroyed bridge, as they flee the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv.
Smoke billows after a Russian attack on a shopping mall in a residential district of Kyiv. The Russians have targeted civilian buildings, such as housing complexes and shopping malls, throughout the war.
A Ukrainian soldier of an artillery unit fires towards Russian positions outside Bakhmut on November 8, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Battle of Bakhmut has been the bloodiest of the war so far that the Russians won after months of grinding fighting of attrition.
A boy rests on bag as people fleeing war-torn Ukraine arrive on a train from Poland shortly after midnight at Hauptbahnhof main railway station in Berlin, Germany.
Destroyed houses on in Irpin, Ukraine.
A man reacts at the body of a relative outside a destroyed building after bombings on the eastern Ukraine town of Chuguiv.
Empty streets at Kivsharivka, in Kupyansk district of Kharkiv, Ukraine on February 22, 2024.
Ukrainian soldier goes out of a shelter in his fighting position in the direction of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The Battle of Bakhmut, which the Russians eventually won, saw the most grinding fighting of the war.
Friends and family take part in the funeral of the three civilians killed by a Russian missile attack on February 22, 2024, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Russians have singled out civilian targets throughout the war.
Abandoned strollers are pictured under a destroyed bridge as people flee the city of Irpin, west of Kyiv, on March 7, 2022.
