Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in maps — latest updates

On February 24 last year, the world woke up to the news that Russian tanks had rolled into Ukraine from the east and north.

For months, troops have been gathering on Ukraine’s borders, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin has delivered a series of fiery speeches about the long-running conflict in the Donbass region.

There were fears that the war would be short, as Ukrainian troops could be overrun within days. But that didn’t come true.

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After eight months of bitter fighting, Russian forces are pushing Bakhmut from three directions, putting Ukraine’s main supply line under intense pressure as President Vladimir Putin seeks to claim his first significant battlefield victory since early summer 2022.

While analysts say Bakhmut has little military significance, the city has become the focal point of both the Ukrainian resistance and Moscow’s efforts to regain momentum on the battlefield.

Satellite images from the Vuhledar region south of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region show the extent of the damage in areas subjected to intense artillery shelling.

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Other maps and charts from the war

Ukrainian forces advanced into Kherson on November 11 after Russia said its forces had completed their withdrawal from the southern city, sealing one of the biggest setbacks to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Kiev’s advance and Moscow’s chaotic retreat across the Dnipro River, carried out under Ukrainian artillery fire, meant Russia had abandoned the only provincial capital it had captured in the war, as well as abandoned strategic positions.

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In late August, Ukraine launched its first major counterattack since Russia launched a full-scale assault on the country in February, though Kiev complained that its forces lacked enough heavy Western weaponry for a decisive strike.

The advance liberated 3,000 square kilometers of territory in just six days – Ukraine’s biggest victory since it pushed back Russian troops from the capital in March.

Ukrainian forces push further east, capturing the Lyman transport hub near the northeastern edge of Donetsk province, which they wrested from Russian control on October 1. Setting the stage for a Ukrainian advance on Svatove, a logistics hub for Russia after its troops occupied the Kharkiv region lost in Ukraine’s Blitz counteroffensive.

The shift in the focus of the conflict to the Donbass region followed Russia’s failure to capture Kiev in the first phase of the war. Ahead of Ukraine’s swift counteroffensive, marginal Russian gains in the east suggested the war was entering a stalemate phase.

The Russians were thwarted in Kiev by a combination of factors including geography, attackers’ mistakes and modern weaponry — as well as Ukraine’s ingenuity with smartphones and pieces of foam.

The number of Ukrainians fleeing the conflict has made it one of the biggest refugee crises in modern history.

In mid-March, an attack on a Ukrainian military base used by US troops to train Ukrainian soldiers added to Russia’s increasingly direct threats that NATO’s continued support of NATO risks making it an enemy combatant in the war make. On March 24, NATO agreed to set up four new multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to reinforce troops in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Sources: War Research InstituteRochan Consulting, FT Research

Cartography and development of Steve Bernard, Chris Campbell, Caitlin Gilbert, Cleve Jones, Emma Lewis, Joanna S Kao, Sam learner, Ændra Rininsland, Niko Comenda, AlanSmith, Martin Stabe, Negeen Sadid And Liz Faunce. Based on reports from Roman Olearchyk And John Scheid in Kiew, Guy Chazan in Lviv, Henry Foy in Brussels and Negeen Sadid in London.