Two years on: the toll of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine and global reaction

Over 10,000 civilians lost their lives in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at least twice that number were injured, and several tens of millions of Ukrainians were forced to flee. The disruption of Ukrainian grain deliveries caused a food crisis in the world's poorest regions. The energy crisis resulting from the war triggered price increases in many countries.

According to data from US and British intelligence, losses on the Russian side are reported to be between 300,000 and 350,000 dead and wounded soldiers, and on the Ukrainian side at least 200,000, but the exact number of military casualties cannot be definitively determined.

The Russian invasion brought the West together, which implemented unprecedented sanctions on Moscow and offered military, economic, and humanitarian assistance valued in tens of billions of dollars to Kiev. NATO enlarged to include Finland, and Sweden seems likely to join the alliance.

In early 2021, Russia began to amass soldiers and military equipment around its borders with Ukraine. In December of that year, Moscow proposed conditions to halt the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance and curtailing its activities on the eastern flank. In January 2022, NATO rejected these conditions.

On 24 February 2022, Vladimir Putin ordered a "special military operation" in Donbass, aimed at "demilitarising and denazifying Ukraine".

The Ukrainian border guard at the Kalanchak checkpoint was the first to witness the advancing column of Russian troops from occupied Crimea. The photograph of the soldier fleeing the checkpoint swiftly circulated around the world, becoming iconic.

Russian troops initiated a full-scale invasion, attacking Ukrainian territory from the north, including from Belarusian territory, from the east, and from the south from the annexed Crimea.

Missile strikes on military buildings and airports began, including those in Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, Lviv region, and Donbas. The Ukrainian authorities also reported a large-scale cyberattack, targeting banks. Within the first few days, almost all Russian forces, approximately 120,000 to 150,000, who had amassed around this country's borders, entered Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared a state of war, severed diplomatic relations with Russia and signed a decree for the general mobilisation of all Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60.

On 25 February 2022, Russian reconnaissance units reached the fringes of the bombarded Kiev. Russian troops gained control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, taking its workers hostage. Heavy fighting continues near Mariupol and Kherson in the south of the country.

On 27 February, Russian missile air strikes persist throughout Ukraine, with Russians occupying more territory within the country. Zelensky announced the formation of the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine, in which foreigners can enlist.

On 28 February, residential areas in Kharkiv were bombarded with Grad rockets. Zelensky signed a petition for Ukraine's membership in the European Union.

A 40-mile Russian military convoy moved towards the Ukrainian capital but didn't succeed in capturing Kiev.

On 2 March, Russian troops captured Kherson and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Over the first six days of the war in Ukraine, more than 2,000 civilians died.

European Union sanctions excluding certain Russian banks from the SWIFT system came into effect. In the succeeding months, further packages of EU sanctions were introduced, affecting Russian and Belarusian sectors: financial, energy, and defence. Freezing of assets and