1st Anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine War: What Happened?

On February 24, 2022, with the announcement of the Russian Federation that it launched a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine at 4 a.m. Turkish time, and close to 200 thousand The Russo-Ukrainian War, which broke out when an invasion force attacked to the 1st anniversary entry. In the past 1 year, some centuries-old geopolitical balances and some political taboos have become history. What probably shocked the whole world the most was that the war was as expected. it did not end in a quick Russian victory.

What has happened so far? How is life in Ukraine right now? What do Ukrainians think? As the Webtekno team, we searched for the answers to all these questions for you and reached out to our Ukrainian friend to get information about the daily life and views of the people.

Before talking directly about the last situation and the phase of the war after 2022, it is useful to mention what happened before and summarize what happened.

Everything happened in Ukraine in 2014 and lasted for months. Eurosquare Revolution as a result of the overthrow of Ukraine’s Russian head of state, Viktor Yanukovych. Viktor Yanukovych, who is trying to improve trade relations with the European Union, gave up on this decision despite the objections of the people, after the Russian Federation imposed an embargo on Ukraine.

The overthrow of Yanukovych Russian militant groups supported by Russia, the Russian Federation Armed Forces units that changed their uniforms and joined the Russianist groups, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in eastern Ukraine. Donbas in the region from 2014 to 2017 conflicts had occurred. During the turmoil created by the conflicts in the east, Russia quickly Crimea too had seized.

Trying to capture the entire Donbas and overthrow the Ukrainian government in the first place, the Russian forces, despite long clashes, only occupied less than half of the region and only major settlements. Donetsk And Luhansk they had seized.

Russia, which could not achieve what it wanted in the period between 2014-2017, started to build up military build-ups almost all over Ukraine under the pretext of exercises towards the end of 2021.

The places where the military build-ups were carried out were the Russian-Ukrainian border, the Belarus-Ukraine border, the out-of-control half of Donbas and the Crimea, which was captured in 2014.

By February 24, 2022, 200,000 and war will break out. unaware yet Russian troops were suddenly ordered to cross the border at around 4 a.m. Turkish time. The video above includes the troops crossing the border and the Russian army’s bombardments.

The Russian army, which took over the south of the country in a short time and was based at the gates of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the north, despite the clashes that lasted for weeks in the cities of Buça, İrpin and Moşçun in the northwest of Kyiv. could not enter the capital.

Attacking the Russian military convoys with FGM-148 Javelin rocket launchers and Bayraktar TB2s, the Ukrainian army finally completely emptied the Russian army from the outskirts of the capital towards the end of March. managed to push back.

The Russian army, which could not capture Kyiv in a short time as expected and suffered a lot of losses, retreated completely from the north of Ukraine in April 2022. He then turned his focus to the east of the country and the south, which he managed to take over completely.

The Russian army is focusing its focus on the east, which we just mentioned. Donbas to the region and herson as well as to cities in the south of Ukraine.

The reason for this sudden change of focus is the attack on Kyiv. for distraction They declared that their main target was the southern lands of Ukraine and the Donbas. But the fact that they have put up a great fight for Kyiv makes the first claim unlikely.

After the Russian attacks stopped after a while, Ukraine launched two major counterattacks in the east direction in September 2022 and in the southwest direction in November 2022, and took back most of the lost lands.

Ukraine, which is a matter of debate whether it can even defend itself due to the damage caused by the Russian attacks, organized two separate attacks almost simultaneously towards the end of the year. in his favor managed to translate.

The Ukrainian army, which quickly recaptured almost the entire eastern province of Kharkiv and the northwestern tip of Luhansk province, where they had been completely expelled at the beginning of the war, was soon recaptured in the south of the country by the Russian army since February. largest city conquered He also managed to get Kherson back.

Russia, in which most of the troops it sent were neutralized, carried out dubious referendums towards the end of September in order to send the army without dealing with legal difficulties. that you have annexed announced.

By the end of 2022, neither side made much progress due to the winter. There are small but violent clashes now and some villages change hands from time to time.

Towards the end of the year, it used most of its offensive capacity and even in the south of Ukraine Realizing that it was starting to lose money, Russia turned its focus this time to capturing only some villages of Donbas.

Clashes are currently ongoing in and around Bahmut settlement in the northwest of Donetsk province, with neither side making much progress. When spring comes It is known that both sides are planning to attack.

As you can imagine, the situation is not just about the developments on the front line. This occupation, which Russia described as a conquest, changed the daily life of the Ukrainian people more than they ever expected and turned into a great human tragedy.

Since February, the people of Ukraine, almost every day to Russian bombardment and bombardment electricity and water cuts is exposed. In addition to these cuts, since there is no air traffic over the country, they have to access all their needs from the plus border gates. Therefore, it is no longer possible to even enter the country unless the embassy or consulate approval is obtained.

The people of Ukraine, who have been experiencing frequent power and water cuts recently, have been struggling to continue their lives from where they left off. in a variety of ways trying to survive. Of these, the most widely adopted at the moment are:

• To take shelter in shelters in certain places, or in subway stations if there is no shelter, in order not to die from the bombardment.
• Charging devices such as computers and phones with cars.
• Lighting the houses with candles instead of lamps, extinguishing the candles if the enemy is approaching.
• Covering or erecting iron fences around buildings and historical monuments against missile and artillery attacks.

In addition to the methods adopted and the measures taken to survive, society and the state, non-governmental organizations and mobilizing the economy for war and can survive thanks to the aid from allied countries. In other words, people from all professions try to support the state and the army in their own way.

It wouldn’t be right for you to hear everything from us. For you, we reached out to a friend from Kharkiv, Ukraine and asked him to share his impressions with us.

First of all, we would like to thank a friend of ours, Vladislav, who wanted to convey his views to us by shooting a video, but could not transmit his video due to interruptions, and we leave the words to his own translated words:

“Hello, Webtekno. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to have my voice heard. My name is Vladislav. I am a student at one of the technical universities in Kharkiv, a city very close to the Russian border.

First of all, I would like to express my condolences to everyone who lost their relatives in the earthquakes in Turkey. As Ukrainians, we totally understand how you feel.
Our electricity, water, gas and internet connection are also interrupted by the bombardments on our infrastructure. Sometimes we have access to electricity for a maximum of 6 hours a day due to power cuts. We’re used to air raid sirens.
When lighting is lacking, we light candles and use generators in shops, workplaces and the like. Everywhere we set up NGOs and raise donations for the military, help animal shelters, donate blood regularly, send food and clothing to others, rebuild homes for those whose homes have been destroyed, and produce candles and distribute them to those in need.
The main thing that keeps us going is our love for our country. We are not a society that thinks about surrendering to find comfort. I believe that everything will be back on track when our entire country, including Crimea, is liberated from occupation.
We started to move away from everything that has to do with Russia and Russians and stop speaking Russian, because now everybody hates Russians and everything related to Russians. But the things that broke my heart the most were my family’s relatives in Moscow who claimed we “made it all up” and a classmate I lost at the front.
My request to your people: Please do not make the invasion of Russia and its excuses and lies commonplace. Leverage reliable news sources and be critical of every claim. All kinds of support to Russia return to us as bullets and missiles, and we lose our loved ones.

Thank you for including my views. May the friendship of Ukraine and Turkey be forever!

We share the pain of the Ukrainian people, especially due to the destruction we experienced after the 6 February earthquakes, and we express our condolences to them for their patience and loss.