Direct War Ukraine Russia, last minute
Russia Putin's victims get ready to resist in Ukraine
At 4 a.m. on February 24,
Russia
began the invasion of
Ukraine
.
Stating that the military operation aims to "protect people from the abuses and genocide they have been subjected to by the Ukrainian government for eight years",
Vladimir Putin
began the bombing under the astonished gaze of an international community that asks him to stop in the name of "humanity".
The war, which had been announced in recent weeks and months, has begun.
But to understand how we got here, you have to go back to 2013.
November of 2013
The president of Ukraine,
Victor Yanukovych
(pro-Russian) suspends the signing of an association agreement with the European Union.
A day later, groups of university students demonstrate in Kiev against the government.
Day after day, the protests are becoming more and more massive.
Independence Square (Maidan) in Kiev becomes a symbol and baptizes this movement of discontent.
From that moment,
the division in two of the Ukrainian society - pro-Russian and pro-European - is evident.
February, March and April 2014
Protests spread across Ukraine and turn violent.
Nearly a hundred people die
.
President Yanukovych leaves the country and Parliament approves his dismissal.
Meanwhile, on the Crimean peninsula - clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian militants break out.
In the last days of February, groups of armed men seize the Crimean airport and several government buildings, such as the Parliament, where they
raise the Russian flag.
The Russian army enters the peninsula.
Under accusations of fraud, a referendum is held on the annexation of Crimea.
The "yes" wins with 97% of the votes while the Western countries and the UN reject the consultation and brand it as "illegal".
Days later,
Putin signs the Crimean Annexation treaty
.
In response, the leaders of the G8 (the most powerful countries in the world)
expel Russia from the group.
The G8 becomes the G7.
In April 2014, the events in Crimea are reproduced in the east of Ukraine,
in the Donbas region.
A war breaks out between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists, aided by Moscow.
According to the UN, that unresolved conflict has since caused
more than 14,000 deaths on both sides.
February 2015
After a first attempt, in September 2014, which failed, the rulers of
Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine
(baptized as 'Normandy Quartet), try to put an end to the war in Donbas with the Minsk agreements, and under the mandate of the Special Observation Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
A ceasefire is agreed, which will be violated shortly after.
From 2017 to 2019
In February 2017, Russia responds to a message from US President Donald Trump and assures that
it will never return Crimea to Ukraine.
In September of that same year,
the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine entered into force
, which includes a free trade agreement and aims to deepen political and economic ties between the two parties.
Since 2016, attempts to resolve the Donbas war have barely borne fruit.
In December 2019 another Summit of the Normandy Quartet is held in Paris.
One of the few advances is the exchange of 200 prisoners between Moscow and Kiev, that same month.
March 2021
In a television interview, US President Joe Biden is asked if he thinks Vladimir Putin is a murderer.
"I think so," Biden replies.
His words anticipate an escalation of tension between the two countries.
Russia, in response, temporarily withdraws its ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov.
April 2021
Kiev
denounces the concentration of more than 100,000 Russian soldiers in the region.
According to Washington, it is the largest build-up of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine since the 2014 conflict. At the time, Moscow says it is conducting exercises in response to "threatening military activities" by NATO near its borders.
This same month, the White House imposes sanctions on Russia (for its interference in the US elections) and announces that it will deport 10 employees of the Russian embassy in Washington.
Russia responds with another 10 expulsions of US diplomats.
June 2021
On the 16th, Putin and Biden meet in Geneva and note their differences on several issues, mainly human rights and cyber attacks.
The summit concludes with few results.
On the 23rd, Russia fired warning shots at a British ship in the Black Sea, near the Crimean peninsula, days before NATO naval exercises in the same place.
On the 20th, Putin assures that Western military support for Ukraine creates "significant security problems" for Russia.
December 2021
On December 2021, the Washington Post publishes that Russia is preparing an offensive against Ukraine with up to 175,000 soldiers in early 2022. On December 16, the EU warns that any aggression against Ukraine will have a high cost for Russia.
A week later, at his annual press conference, Vladimir Putin (who fears that Ukraine will become a member of NATO), insists that the expansion of the Alliance to the east is unacceptable, and asks the West for "guarantees of security".
January 2022
Russians and Americans decide to launch the diplomatic route and begin, on the 10th, a
first round of negotiations in Geneva.
During the NATO Council in Brussels, on the 12th, the irreconcilable differences between the Alliance and Moscow are revealed.
January 14.
Ukrainian authorities blame Russia for a massive cyber attack.
On the same day, the US accuses Russia of carrying out a "false flag attack" on Ukraine to create a "pretext" for an invasion.
January 18.
Russia carries out maneuvers in Belarus while the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, travels to Europe and begins a new round of diplomatic contacts to try to de-escalate the crisis.
January 19.
Blinken, who is already in Ukraine, evokes the possibility that the US will qualify the consequences of a "minor incursion" by Russia.
The White House comes out to correct him and the Secretary of State then assures that any aggression will receive "a severe and united response" from the US and its allies.
January 21st.
Lavrov and Blinken meet in Geneva and manage to buy some time.
The Russian Foreign Minister says that they are not going to attack Ukraine, and announces that the US has promised to respond in writing to their security demands.
Blinken offers dialogue but warns that he will respond if there is an invasion.
January 23.
Washington announces the repatriation of the families of its diplomats in Ukraine, given the risk of Russia invading that country, it recommends its citizens to leave Ukraine.
Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, replicate this measure.
January 24
.
The tension escalates again.
The US admits the possibility of sending the military to Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries;
NATO announces that it is reinforcing its eastern flank, while Russia denounces the "hysteria" of the West.
For the Kremlin, the responsibility for the tension in Eastern Europe falls on the US and its allies.
January 29.
Joe Biden claims that he plans to deploy troops to Eastern Europe and NATO countries "in the short term."
In the previous days, the Pentagon assures that it has 8,500 soldiers on "maximum alert"
January 31
.
In the Security Council debate on the crisis triggered by the deployment on the border with Ukraine,
the Ukrainian government
to be formed by "pure Nazis"
February 2022
February 3rd.
Washington denounces that Putin wants to justify the war in Ukraine with a false video of a massacre of Russians in that country
February 7
.
Xi Jingping and Vladimir Putin sign a declaration in Beijing in which they urge the West to "abandon the ideological approaches of the Cold War" and ask NATO to rule out expansion in Eastern Europe
February 8th.
Macron meets with Putin in the Kremlin, asks him not to go to war and assures him, after their meeting, that the Russian leader has guaranteed him that "there will be no escalation".
Hours later, Putin denies having promised anything.
February 17th.
The Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists accuse each other of shelling the front line in Donbas.
February 21
.
Vladimir Putin
recognizes the separatist territories of
Donetsk and Lugansk
and gives instructions to deploy the Russian army in these rebel territories of Ukraine.
February 22.
In response to Putin's actions, Germany announces that it will halt the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Hours later, US President Joe Biden also announces sanctions against the company in charge of operating the gas pipeline
February 23
.
Ukraine declares a state of emergency and authorizes its citizens to have weapons.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks all Ukrainians to leave Russia "immediately" and hours later suffers a cyber attack.
February 24th.
Putin announces a "military operation" in Ukraine and soon after the bombing begins in much of the country, including the capital.
The Russian Armed Forces neutralize the anti-aircraft defense of Ukraine and destroy the infrastructure of the air bases.
The international community condemns the attacks.
Ukraine's President Zelensky activates martial law and calls on world leaders to "stop Putin."
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