War in Ukraine, one year after the Russian invasion to ‘denazify’ the country

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia will be one year old on February 24, the date on which the Kremlin ordered to bomb several Ukrainian cities in Donbasafter Vladimir Putin’s government recognized the breakaway territories of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent republics three days earlier.

Putin justified his “special military operation” against the country governed by Volodimir Zelenski in the need to “denazify and demilitarize Ukraine”.

“I have made the decision to carry out a special military operation. Its objective will be to defend the people who for eight years have suffered persecution and genocide by the kyiv regime. For this, we will aim at the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine”, Putin said in a televised speech, without supporting evidence.

Although it seemed that the war was going to have a quick outcome, with a clear Russian victory, this has not been the case. Throughout these twelve months, both sides accumulated victories and setbacks; the Russians began advancing on several fronts, but the Ukrainian resistance managed to recover many lost territories.

Four days after the start of the Russian invasion, the first round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations was held in Belarus on February 28. However, on the ground the war continued and it was on March 1 when Russia stormed Kherson, a region that borders Crimea.

On March 4, Russia attacked the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporizhia, and five days later it took control of the Chernobyl plant, the scene of the largest atomic catastrophe in history (1986) and located a few kilometers from the Belarusian border.

A month later, more than 400 civilian bodies were discovered in Bucha, on the outskirts of kyiv, which the international community denounced as genocide, accusations that the Kremlin considered “unfounded”.

By April 11, pro-Russian militias seized the port of Mariupol. Subsequently, Ukraine denounced the possible use of chemical weapons in that place.

On the 14th of the same month, Russia assured that the cruiser “Moskva”, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, sank in a storm, while Ukraine indicated that its missiles caused the sinking.

Ukraine and Russia agree on July 22, with the mediation of the UN and Turkey, to create a safe maritime corridor to export grain from the Black Sea ports. This paid off on August 1, when the first grain ship set sail from the Black Sea trading port of Odessa.

On August 8, Ukraine accused Russia of having committed more than 27,000 war crimes. Three days later it was learned that at least 361 children had been killed since the invasion began, according to the Ukrainian Ombudsman’s Office.

By August 22, Russia accused the Ukrainian secret services of the death in an attack on the 20th of Daria Dugin, daughter of the leader of the neo-Eurasianist movement, Alexandr Dugin.

At the end of 2022 it was reported that the war had already stopped 7.8 million people in a refugee situation and close to 7 million internally displaced persons. In addition, thousands of cities and municipalities destroyed, although some populations had already been able to return.

By January 13, 2023, Moscow claims the conquest of Soledad, a city near Bakhmut, which Russia has been trying to control for months. Twelve days later, kyiv admits having withdrawn from that city after “months of difficult fighting.”

At the end of January, the head of the German government, Olaf Scholz authorizes shipment of Leopard main battle tanks to Ukrainewhich insistently claimed them to better defend itself against the Russian invasion.

The decision is described as “extremely dangerous” by Russia and affirms that it “will take the conflict to a new level of confrontation”.

Germany intends to send its Leopards towards the end of March or the beginning of April, within the framework of a delivery between 120 and 140 tanks by various western countriesaccording to kyiv.

Ukraine has these modern tanks to stop the Russian offensive in the east of its territory.

Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz says Germany will not allow the war to escalate into a conflict between Russia and NATO

Ukraine accuses the IOC of being a “war promoter” with Russia

On the other hand, on February 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he is considering giving military aid to Ukraine and serving as a mediator, after the US called for a more active engagement. (YO)