3 years of war in Ukraine — in pictures

Satellite pictures taken in late 2021 showed how Russian military and heavy weapons were gathering near the Russian town of Yelnya, close to the border of Belarus. On November 11, 2021, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russian President Vladimir Putin not to invade Ukraine. That did not stop Putin, who ordered a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country on February 24, 2022.

The military operations on February 24 saw rockets hit a number of Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv. In Kyiv, a military building was set alight during the attacks. The war — which Moscow insisted on calling a "special operation" — had begun.

Within weeks, Ukrainians were able to expel the Russians from cities in the north. After the Russians were pushed out, war crimes came to light. Images of tortured and murdered civilians in the Bucha district, near Kyiv, went around the world. Over 1,100 civilians in the Bucha district were killed, authorities reported. Investigators said the violence was methodical and strategic.

According to Moscow, the "special operation" in Ukraine was only supposed to last three days. Three years later, the war continues. The latest reports from think tank the Institute for the Study of War indicate that Russia now controls around 20% of Ukrainian territory, mostly in the east. This picture was taken in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, in May 2023.

In September 2022, Russia unilaterally annexed four Ukrainian areas — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — which add up to around about 90,000 square kilometers. A year later, the four areas were included in Russian regional elections. In a vote that was described as "a flagrant violation of international law," Putin's United Russia party won in each area with more than 70% of the vote.

The war in Ukraine forced millions of people to flee, sparking a wave of migration unseen in Europe since World War II. According to the United Nations, 3.7 million people in Ukraine have been displaced by the fighting. Over 6 million left Ukraine altogether and moved westward into Europe, mostly to Poland and Germany.

Russia's 2022 siege of the southern city of Mariupol lasted 82 days. The city was heavily bombed and the last Ukrainian fighters barricaded themselves in a steel factory. After Russia bombed a hospital, a photo of a pregnant woman being evacuated went around the world. The picture was taken by Ukrainian journalists who later won an Academy Award for their documentary, "20 Days in Mariupol."

At 19 kilometers (about 12 miles), the Crimea bridge is the longest in Europe and connects southern Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. In October 2022, the bridge was damaged by a bomb set by Ukrainians and became only partially usable. In July 2023, the bridge was damaged once again by Ukrainian forces.

On June 6, 2023, an explosion damaged the Kakhovka Dam and emptied its reservoir into the Dnipro River. Ukraine and Russia both blamed the other for the disaster but, at the time, Russia controlled the dam. The resulting flood triggered an environmental disaster, wrecked thousands of homes and also likely killed hundreds — journalists later found that Russia had deliberately undercounted the dead.

Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Researchers say that a year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 76% of thermal power plants had been destroyed. By September 2024, that figure had risen to 95%. Ukraine's grid has been severely weakened, which has resulted in power outages and a worsening humanitarian situation, especially in winter.

In August 2024, Ukraine's armed forces launched an offensive on Russian territory for the first time. Meeting little resistance at the borders, they were initially able to control around 1,400 square kilometers (about 540 square miles) in the Kursk region. But they have since lost two-thirds of the occupied territory.

Both Russia and Ukraine use drones for reconnaissance and surveillance, and also for targeted attacks. Experts say there are around 100 different types of drones are in use in Ukraine, from toy-sized machines to those the size of small planes. In March 2024, Ukraine said it was capable of manufacturing up to 4 million drones annually.

Three years of war have left lasting scars on Ukraine. In the east and south, many towns and villages, devastated by Russian attacks, are today more like ghost towns. The town of Bohorodychne, in the Donetsk region, came under heavy attack by Russia in June 2022 and is now almost empty.

Not all of Ukraine is on the front line. Far from the fighting, life goes on. Shops, cafes and restaurants are open, and locals have prepared for power outages by setting up generators.

US President Donald Trump has talked about how he wants to end the war in Ukraine in "24 hours." Trump has not yet done this. However, his apparent closeness with Russia, his desire to pressure Ukraine into giving up its mineral wealth to the US and his recent war of words with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are causing concern in Ukraine and among its allies.