Alexa Abano '25
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, which began a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war that began in February 2014. That morning, Vladimir Putin announced that there was a “special military operation” which was seeking the demilitarization of Ukraine.
Attacks by Russian forces were reported in some of Ukraine’s major cities, Berdyanask, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, and the capital Kyiv.
“Throughout 2021 and 2022, a Russian military build-up on the border of Ukraine escalated tensions between the two countries and strained their bilateral relations, eventually leading to Russia initiating a full-scale invasion of the country.”
Russian forces are now beginning their plan for their next major offensive in the eastern Ukrainian region, attacking Ukrainian defense lines.
“Analysts at the Atlantic Council also said Russian forces are pushing to encircle Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region,” says NPR.
“A British defense intelligence assessment said Russia had suffered its highest rate of casualties since the start of the war,” sources say.
The U.S. and Germany both announced that they would send tanks to Ukraine, after months of resisting the Ukrainian government's requests. Germany also says that “Other countries, like Poland, can give Ukraine their German-made Leopard 2 tanks.” says CNN.
Germany’s decision to send these tanks to Ukraine was a huge game-changer in the war. The decision followed weeks of Western pressure, ending a period of deliberation in Berlin that has frustrated its allies and caused exasperation in Kyiv.
“The German army has 320 Leopard 2 tanks in its possession but does not reveal how many would be battle ready,” as reported by CNN.
A Russian general was recently laced with an unknown poisonous toxin. Kadyrov, who is also a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said his top general in Ukraine has been poisoned after handling a letter that was sent to him on February 8.
Apti Alaudinov, who commands the Akhmat special forces, picked up a letter that was "saturated with a poisonous substance," Kadyrov said. The general "sensed this by the bitter, specific smell and took action in time: he treated his hands and washed his nasal cavity," Kadyrov added.
It is unclear who sent the letter or what exactly the substance was, but Kadyrov said an investigation was underway and that there are already “results.”
This is not the first poison-related incident since the start of Russia's invasion on February 24 of last year. In March last year, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich briefly went blind after an apparent poisoning during peace meetings with Ukrainian negotiators.
The Russian-Ukrainian war is taking many unexpected turns from the tanks finally being sent to Ukraine, to the letters that were laced with toxins. As of now, there is no chance that the war will be ending in 2023.
“The war will not end in 2023. As General Mark Milley, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, has suggested, it is highly unlikely Ukraine will be able to remove the occupying forces this year,” says the European Council Of Foreign Relations.
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