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.
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The U.S. will provide Ukraine with a $1 billion military aid package, the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on April 26 before the beginning of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting, also known as Ramstein format.
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The organization is loosely described, but characterized as having the goal of trying to "destroy the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia."
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The newly appointed Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze arrived in Kyiv on the morning of April 26 and met with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, the ministry reported.
The move is the latest from Western nations responding to calls from Kyiv for more air defenses in the face of escalating Russian missile and drone attacks on cities across the country.
While the proposal must still get through more legislative steps before becoming law, it was supported by lawmakers from both center-right and center-left parties.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Dan Cisek said it is a "difficult question" but that the "government of Ukraine has the right to define its policy" on this issue.
Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court ordered the arrest of Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi, suspected of illegally acquiring state-owned land, Ukrainian media outlets reported early on April 26.
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Ukraine can still win the war against Russia, but allies have more to do to ensure Kyiv receives "the support we have promised," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on April 25.