Civilians and servicemen attend funerals of Oleh Yashchyshyn, Serhiy Melnyk and Rostyslav Romanchuk, Ukrainian servicemen killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at Lychakiv cemetery in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on March 15, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)
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One month ago, just after 4:45 a.m. Kyiv time on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to announce what he called a “special operation” to “disarm and de-Nazify” Ukraine. His address was immediately followed by missile strikes on major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, and multi-directional assaults towards Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kherson, and Mariupol.
Since then, Russian forces have launched more than 1,100 missilies onto the Ukrainian territory, according to Pentagon.
Russia has been shelling Ukrainian cities, large and small, forcing over 10 million Ukrainians to flee their homes, with 6.5 million being displaced inside the country and 3.6 million going abroad, according to the United Nations.
Russian forces have besieged several Ukrainian cities, attacked agreed-upon humanitarian corridors for evacuation and have committed multiple atrocities towards civilians, which have shocked the Ukrainian nation.
At least 977 civilians were killed and 1,594 injured, according to the UN, but the actual figures are belived to be significantly higher. According to the local authorities in Mariupol, a besieged seaport city in south-eastern Ukraine, over 2,000 residents were killed in the city alone. Russia's war took the lives of at least 128 children and injured at least 172 other children, according to Prosecutor General's Office.
Civilian infrastructure has been damaged across the country. Some 4,431 residential buildings, 548 schools, and 135 health care institutions were partially or completely destroyed, according to the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group.
The body of a rocket stuck in a flat after recent shelling on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv on Feb. 24, 2022. (AFP/ Getty Images)Residents of Severodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast, hide in a basement during the heavy shelling by Russian forces on Feb. 28, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (2L) and Chief of Russia's General Staff Valery Gerasimov in Moscow on Feb. 27, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)People remove personal belongings from a burning house after being shelled in the city of Irpin, outside Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Ukrainians fleeing the war to Poland get for the train at Lviv train station on Feb. 28, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Around 100,000 protesters crowd around the victory column and close to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to demonstrate against Russia's war in Ukraine on Feb. 27, 2022.(AFP/Getty Images)People cross a destroyed bridge as they evacuate from the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling and bombing on March 5, 2022. (AFP/ Getty Images)U.S. President Joe Biden takes questions as he addresses the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the White House on Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington, DC. (AFP/Getty Images)A Ukrainian soldier holds a Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW) that was used to destroy a Russian armored personal carrier (APC) in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on March 12, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A staff member and the parents of a newborn baby hide in the bomb shelter of a maternity hospital on March 2, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Getty Images)Ukrainian servicemen patrol in the streets as security measures tightened due to the ongoing Russian attacks in the Black Sea port city of Odesa on March 14, 2022. Volunteers have placed sandbags around one of Odesa’s landmarks, the monument to Duke of Richelieu, to protect it from potential Russian bombardment. (Getty Images)Service members of Ukrainian Territorial Defense, Valery (3rdL) and Lesya (2ndL), get married not far from a checkpoint on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 6, 2022. (AFP/ Getty Images)President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference in Kyiv on March 3, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)Ukrainian emergency workers carry an injured pregnant woman from a maternity hospital that was damaged by Russian shelling in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast on March 9, 2022. The mother and her unborn baby died. (Evgeniy Maloletka)Residents of Kherson block Russian military vehicles as Russian troops attempt to occupy the city. Kherson has been under the Russian control since March 5, 2022.A woman learns how to use an AK-47 assault rifle during a civilian self-defense course in the outskirts of Lviv on March 4, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A mass grave in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, on March 9, 2022. According to local authorities, over 2,000 residents have been killed in the city since Feb. 24, 2022. (Mstyslav Chernov)A wounded woman is seen following an airstrike that damaged a residential building outside of Kharkiv on Feb. 24, 2022. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)Ukrainian soldiers search for bodies in the debris at the military school hit by Russian rockets the day before, in Mykolaiv on March 19, 2022. Ukrainian media reported that the attack had killed at least 40 Ukrainian soldiers at their brigade headquarters. (AFP/Getty Images)An evacuated resident is comforted by Svitlana Vodolaga, spokeswoman for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (R) outside a burning apartment building in Kyiv on March 15, 2022, following attacks on residential areas that had killed at least two people. (AFP/Getty Images)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to travel to Kyiv in August, marking his first visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its all-out war in February 2022.
Videos on social media that purport to show Romanian air defense units shooting down Russian attack drones above Ukraine are spreading a false narrative, Romania's Defense Ministry said in a statement on July 26.
By November, Ukraine will receive $7.9 billion in direct support to the state budget, part of the $61 billion aid package passed by the U.S. Congress in April, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, said on air on July 26.
Russia is now launching a new type of cheaply-made drones to identify air defense systems and act as decoys, Andrii Cherniak, a spokesperson of Ukraine's military intelligence, told Reuters in an interview published on July 26.
After a "very difficult couple of weeks" due to record-breaking heat and power plants being under repair, Ukraine's energy supply situation is improving, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of state grid operator Ukrenergo, said on July 26.
The city of Kharkiv has decided to rename three metro stations and 48 streets to "remove Russian markers from public space," Governor Oleh Syniehubov announced on July 26.
Speaking on national TV, Andrii Yusov said the situation will soon have an impact on the frontline situation and Russia's ability to effectively wage war.
Russia's Central Bank announced on July 26 that it is to raise the interest rate from 16% to 18%, as the Russian economy continues to experience accelerated inflation amid its war in Ukraine.
Adopting demobilization law now could repeat the "mistake" of the Ukrainian People's Republic during its war against the Bolsheviks in 1918, said Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine's parliament, on national television on July 25.
In his previous position, former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov was in charge of the military's logistics chains during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. His dismissal was widely seen as a response to the logistic failures that accompanied the early months of Russia's all-out war.
The man suspected of murdering lawmaker and professor Iryna Farion could be involved in the Russian neo-Nazi movement, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies announced during a press briefing on July 26.
According to the state-owned railway operator SNCF, vandals damaged signal boxes on three lines connecting the French capital with other major cities, while a fourth attempt was foiled.
"There is no better symbol or use for the Kremlin's money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces confirmed that Ukraine hit Russia's Saky military airfield in occupied Crimea overnight on July 26 following media reports about explosions in the area.
Kremlin state media on July 26 released a video purporting to show a Russian man confessing to a car bombing in Moscow earlier this week, which reportedly injured a Russian military officer and his wife.
"Many countries have proposed the idea of a ceasefire, but no one thinks about what it means. Some 25% of Ukrainian territory would remain under Russian control, which means buying time for Russia to strengthen its capabilities and resume its attacks on Ukraine," Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar said.
Svitolina and Romanchuk were medalists at the previous Olympics in Tokyo. Svitolina won bronze in the individual tennis competition, while Romanchuk became a silver and bronze medalist in the 1500 m and 800 m freestyle events, respectively.
Hungary's record loan came amid a record increase in its public debt to 140 billion euros ($152 billion), 73.5% of GDP, and a budget deficit of 6.7% of GDP, while the country has no access to European Union funds due to the conflict with Brussels.