War in Ukraine: a look back at 10 key moments of the conflict, two years after the start of the Russian invasion

Highlights: Two years after the start of the Russian invasion, Europe 1 looks back on 10 events which marked the conflict. From the fall of Mariupol to the recent fall of the symbolic town of Avdiivka, in Donbass, a look back at 10 significant events. The human toll of two years of Russian invasion of Ukraine is in the hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to Russian and Ukrainian figures. Russia conceals the number of civilians killed in areas it has conquered, like the ravaged city of Mari upol.

On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Two years after the start of the Russian invasion, from the fall of Mariupol to the recent fall of the symbolic town of Avdiïvka, in Donbass, Europe 1 looks back on 10 events which marked the conflict.

Juline Garnier with Ophélie Artaud and AFP 5:00 a.m., February 24, 2024

On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Two years after the start of the Russian invasion, from the fall of Mariupol to the recent fall of the symbolic town of Avdiïvka, in Donbass, Europe 1 looks back on 10 events which marked the conflict.

After two years of total war at the gates of Europe, what can we learn from the conflict?

As February 24 marks the second anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine finds itself in an "extremely difficult" position on the battlefields, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky's own admission.

From the loss of Mariupol to the more recent loss of the town of Avdiivka, the center of fighting for several months in the Donbass, a look back at 10 significant events in the conflict.

Human toll of the war in Ukraine

The human toll of two years of Russian invasion of Ukraine is in the hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to Russian and Ukrainian figures, but its precise scale remains unknown.

Moscow and kyiv keep their military losses secret, and Russia conceals the number of civilians killed in areas it has conquered, like the ravaged city of Mariupol.

The official reports of civilians killed since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022 fall far short of reality, because no independent count has ever been made, due to the lack of access to the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia.

In June 2023, the authorities said they had only been able to count 10,368 civilians whose bodies had been found, but that the toll could rise to around 50,000 civilian victims.

On the Russian side of the border, the death toll stands at at least 145, according to a count carried out by the Russian news site 7x7.

On both sides, military losses are data that the general staffs keep silent.

We must therefore turn to estimates established by third-party sources.

Last August, the

New York Times

, citing American officials, estimated military losses at 70,000 dead and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded on the Ukrainian side, 120,000 dead and 170,000 to 180,000 wounded on the Russian side.

On January 29, in a written response to a parliamentarian, British Defense Minister James Heappey estimated Russian losses at more than 350,000 dead and wounded.

May 20, 2022: the martyred city of Mariupol falls into the hands of the Russians

A strategic target of the Russians from the first day of the invasion in February 2022, Mariupol is home to the largest Ukrainian port.

During the first two months of the war, the city was besieged by the Russian army.

Mariupol quickly became one of the symbols of the Russian invasion, particularly after the bombing of its maternity ward, or even its theater, in which a thousand civilians took refuge.

At the end of April 2022, the last Ukrainian fighters as well as residents were holed up on the Azovstal metallurgical site, on which Russia launched an assault.

Ukraine requests the establishment of emergency humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.

On May 20, Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian forces had taken control of the city, at the cost of at least 22,000 deaths and almost total destruction.

Mariupol, a large port city that was once very touristy, has been in the hands of the Russians since May 20, 2022, after intense fighting for several weeks and at least 22,000 victims.

Summer 2022: the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant comes close to disaster

Occupied by Russian forces from March 2022, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine suffered intense bombing during the summer, raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

The last reactor still in operation was shut down in mid-September.

But the crisis still remains: the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is still in the hands of the Russians.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regularly carries out inspections to ensure that the site's security protocols are respected.

But the Agency remains particularly suspicious.

The Russians “will continue to create dangerous situations, by blackmailing the whole world with a nuclear and radiation accident”, concluded the president of the operator in December 2023.

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September 2022: the Ukrainians retake Kherson thanks to a counter-offensive

While the war had been bogged down for several weeks, Ukraine launched a counter-offensive, first in the direction of Kherson, in the south of the country, then a second in the east, to retake the Kharkiv region.

If the city of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, had resisted the Russians despite intense bombardments, several strategic points on the outskirts of the city had fallen into Russian hands.

At the end of August, the Ukrainians regained ground and managed to recover towns controlled by the Russians, such as Izioum.

Weakened, Vladimir Putin announces a partial mobilization on September 21.

Hundreds of Russian men then fled their country to avoid being sent to the Ukrainian front.

On September 30, the Russian president also announced the annexation of the regions of Lugansk, Donestsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, after "referendums".

For its part, the Ukrainian army managed to recover Kherson on November 11.

October 8, 2022: the Crimean bridge bombed

It linked Crimea, this region annexed by Moscow in 2014, to Russia.

On October 8, the explosion of a vehicle bomb caused a violent fire on the Kerch Bridge, also called the Crimean Bridge, which partially collapsed.

A new setback for Russia, because this 19 kilometer long infrastructure was an economic and geopolitical symbol for Vladimir Putin, who had it built and then inaugurated in 2018 to the detriment of Ukraine and in defiance of international law.

The explosion of the Crimean bridge in October 2022 is a new setback for Russia.

January 2023: fall of Soledar, first Russian victory since June 2022

As of January 11, Russia claims to have taken control of the town of Soledar, in eastern Ukraine, a first notable Russian victory on the ground after several humiliating setbacks in recent months.

This announcement was initially denied by kyiv, leaving uncertainty remaining over the fate of Soledar, a small town of around 10,000 inhabitants before the war.

Ukraine finally confirmed on January 25 the fall of the city, reduced to ruins by the fighting.

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March 2023: French AMX-10 RC tanks taken over by Ukrainian soldiers

After the delivery of fourteen Leopard 2 tanks by Germany in January 2023, France also agrees to deliver fourteen of its AMX-10 RC tanks, light, mobile and fast tanks even if somewhat "old".

They were used for the first time in March by the Ukrainian army in southern Donbass.

A way for the European Union to continue to support Ukraine, one year after the start of the Russian invasion.

Although eagerly awaited, the French tanks were on several occasions deemed "unsuitable" for Ukrainian terrain for attacks on the front, their armor being "too light";

the Ukrainian army preferring German tanks, armored combat vehicles which are among the most powerful in the world and which have long been coveted by kyiv.

May 2023: the battle of Bakhmut

After the fall of Soledar, the front moved to Bakhmut in Donbass, where violent clashes took place between Russian and Ukrainian troops.

On May 20, 2023, Bakhmut was largely captured by Russian forces.

The Ukrainian army claims control of a small strip of the city, along the neighboring highway.

Nevertheless, Ukraine launched counterattacks on Russia's flanks, seeking to encircle the city.

Around the same time, on May 25, the Wagner Group began to withdraw from the city to be replaced by regular Russian troops.

Although initially a target of medium importance, Bakhmout became a central point of the Russo-Ukrainian war due to the colossal investment of the two belligerents.

Today, even if kyiv officially considers that the battle is continuing there, the Ukrainian forces no longer hold positions in the symbolic city whose capture has already been claimed by Moscow.

Bakhmout became the center of fighting in Donbass for many months before being largely captured by the Russians.

June 24, 2023: Prigozhin's rebellion in Russia

A month after its most resounding feat of arms, the capture of Bakhmout after months of a fierce battle, the Wagner militia turned against the Kremlin.

For 24 hours, the mercenaries headed towards Moscow led by Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, threatening the government;

but end up turning around.

Vladimir Putin then denounces an “armed rebellion”, led by “traitors” who attempted “a stab in the back”.

At the end of a lightning mutiny, the Russian president left three options for the group's mercenaries: return to civilian life, join the regular army or follow their leader into exile in Belarus, suggesting that Wagner would no longer fight in Ukraine.

Two months later, on August 23, 2023, a plane with ten people on board crashed in Russia without leaving any survivors.

Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list, according to Russian news agencies.

December 2023: Ukrainian drones attack Russia, Belgorod attacked

As part of kyiv's counter-offensive, launched in June 2023 to try to reconquer the territories occupied by Moscow, drones are buzzing by the thousands above the front.

Moscow is raining Iranian Shahed suicide drones, nicknamed “mopeds” by locals because of their noise, on the Ukrainian rear, and even on the capital.

kyiv also sends similar devices into the Russian depths, in annexed Crimea or in the Belgorod region (west), and even against Moscow.

Several dozen drones are intercepted per day on both sides of the front.

On December 30, 2023, several airstrikes were carried out in the city of Belgorod, Russia, a town bordering Ukraine.

The explosions killed at least 25 people and injured more than 100 others.

Each accuses the other of having carried out the attack.

This is the deadliest attack against civilians on Russian territory since the start of the Russian invasion.

February 17, 2024: the Ukrainian army announces its withdrawal from Avdiïvka, a town taken by the Russians

After four months of Russian assaults, the Ukrainian army, faced with a growing lack of soldiers and weapons, announced, on the night of February 16 to 17, its withdrawal from Avdiïvka, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine largely destroyed and deserted by the overwhelming majority of its 34,000 inhabitants.

The fall of Avdiïvka constitutes an important symbolic victory for Russia despite high losses.

This neighboring town of Donetsk, the separatist "capital", briefly fell in July 2014 into the hands of pro-Russian separatists led by Moscow, before returning to Ukrainian control and remaining so until then, embodying resistance to the Russian invasion.

A setback for Volodymyr Zelensky, a few days before the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Today, a debate on mobilization has been raging for weeks in Ukraine, while the army is struggling today, unlike at the start of the conflict, to find volunteers for the front.