One year of Russia-Ukraine war: A month-by-month timeline of how the conflict has played out till now

The war in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine from the North, East, and South. Over the next couple of days, the two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, came under intense shelling and missile attacks. What is the status of the war now?

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in separate photos.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R). (Photo via Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, for Putin, AP for Zelensky)

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With 8,006 civilians killed and around 13, 287 injured according to UN Human Rights data, the war in Ukraine has now gone on for more than a year. Here are the major events of the war in each month, since February 24, 2022:

24 Feb 2022: Russia invades Ukraine from North, East, and South. Over the next couple of days, the two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, come under intense shelling and missile attacks.

March: Russia takes the Kherson region and seeks to form a land bridge between Crimea and the Donbas oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk. The largest number of civilians were killed this month.

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A Ukrainian serviceman stands amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

April: Russian forces pull back from Kyiv; evidence emerges of civilian massacre in Bucha (above). Ukrainians start retaking territory in North; sink Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva.

May: Mariupol falls after weeks of bombardment and Ukrainian resistance; Azovstal steel plant reduced to ruins; Russia takes all of the Black Sea coasts except Odesa.

June: Ukraine retakes Snake Island in the Black Sea off Odesa, which Russia had captured on day 1 of the war; morale-boosting victory hits aura of Russian naval prowess.

July: US-made HIMARS deployed. All of Luhansk falls to Russia; the bloody war in Donbas has ground along slowly since. Fears rise around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

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August: Ukraine launches major counteroffensive in Kherson using West-supplied weapons; targets Russian air base in Crimea. IAEA inspectors are allowed in Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

September: Counteroffensive gains momentum; Ukraine takes back most of Kharkiv. Reports of demoralisation in Russian ranks. Nord Stream undersea pipelines are sabotaged.

October: Blast hits Kerch Strait Bridge linking Crimea with Russia. Russia seeks to cripple Ukraine’s energy infra; annexes Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.

Nov-Dec: Russia withdraws from Kherson city to the eastern side of Dnipro; war drags on with no major gains to either side; Ukraine drones hit military bases inside Russia.

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President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St. Michaels Golden-Domed Cathedral on a surprise visit, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Kyiv. (AP/PTI)

Jan-Feb: Ukraine hits building in Donetsk housing Russian troops; Moscow says 89 soldiers dead. The US, the UK and Germany say will send tanks to Ukraine; Biden visits Kyiv (above).