These are the main events on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Saturday, February 24, 2024.
Second anniversary of the war.
- Two years ago today, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, triggering a brutal war with no end in sight.
- To mark the anniversary, the United States imposed sanctions against more than 500 targets linked to Russia and imposed new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities for providing support to Russia in the largest tranche of sanctions since the start of the conflict.
- The European Union announced its 13th package of sanctions against Russia, banning nearly 200 additional entities and individuals accused of participating in the two-year war.
- The UK also imposed sanctions on six officials who oversaw the penal colony where Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny died under mysterious circumstances last week.
- The prime ministers of Italy, Canada and Belgium, Giorgia Meloni, Justin Trudeau and Alexander De Croo, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, traveled together to the Ukrainian capital by train from neighboring Poland in a show of solidarity .
- Von der Leyen praised Ukraine's “extraordinary resilience” when she arrived in kyiv.
- Meloni and Trudeau are expected to sign security pacts with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in line with deals recently agreed with France and Germany worth billions of dollars.
US President Joe Biden will participate in a video conference with other leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), the main democracies, which will be chaired by Meloni, and Zelenskyy will be invited to join the discussion. Italy holds the rotating presidency of the G7 and organized the call. - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on Germany and Europe to make a greater effort on defense. “Russia is not only attacking Ukraine, it is also destroying peace in Europe,” Scholz said, adding that Ukraine would be supported in its self-defense “for as long as necessary.”
- In the two years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 14 million people — nearly a third of Ukraine's population — have fled their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.
- The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine says at least 10,582 civilians have been killed and nearly 20,000 wounded since the start of the war.
- Switzerland has told the United Nations that it intends to host a high-level peace conference in Ukraine “before the summer.”
fights, weapons
- Putin has claimed that 95 percent of Russia's strategic nuclear forces had been modernized and that the Air Force had just received four new nuclear-capable supersonic bombers.
- The Ukrainian Air Force says it shot down a rare Russian spy plane, an A-50, over the Sea of Azov, its chief Mykola Oleshchuk said.
- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Moscow's forces in occupied Ukraine, where he was informed that Russian forces were on the offensive after taking full control of the Avdiivka industrial center, according to an army statement.
- Russian forces launched 28 attacks on Ukraine's northeastern province of Sumy, targeting five communities, the Kyiv Independent newspaper reported, citing local authorities.
- At least one man was killed in a Russian drone strike in the southern city of Odessa, regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on social media, adding that three other people were wounded.
- Russian strikes also killed one civilian in the city of Myrnohrad, Donetsk province, and two others in the southeastern city of Dnipro, local officials say.
- Biden has renewed calls for lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to unlock a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine, warning that “history is waiting” and that “the lack will not be forgotten.” of support to Ukraine at this critical moment.”
