The Kiev Independent looks back at the year of Russian aggression on the eve of the anniversary of the invasion:
Ukraine has come a long way since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
From the Russian occupation of nearly 30% of Ukraine’s territory in February to Russia’s humiliating defeats in the north and the south, from the West’s hesitation about providing weapons to Kyiv to pledging hundreds of modern tanks, from the entire world’s doubts about Ukraine’s very chances to survive to the global admiration of the Ukrainian people’s courage — this year has forever changed Ukraine and the world.
No matter how resistant Ukraine has been, Russia’s endless brutality has also made this year full of devastation and tragedy. The all-out war has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, forced millions to flee, and led to tens of billions of dollars in damage.
Each month presented new developments on the front line, new shifts in the diplomatic effort, new tragedies, and new victories...
The article then takes a month-by-month look at the main events of the past year (it's worth bookmarking).
The evil Russia has wrought has changed world history, not in the way thug war criminal Putin anticipated when he began his effort to restore the footprint of the Soviet Union. He catastrophically underestimated Ukraine's strength and resolve and overestimated Russia's military strength and competence. He brought on crushing sanctions that have shrunk Russia's economy and its industrial and technology base. He ordered a mobilization that led to up to a million Russians fleeing the country to avoid military service and Putin's crackdown on Russia's last vestiges of civil rights. He has forced Western Europe to wean itself off Russian energy, a major source of income for Russia, perhaps forever. He revitalized the NATO alliance and caused Sweden and Finland to seek membership. He has made Russia a pariah state that, whatever the outcome of the war, will not be trusted again as a responsible partner for generations, if ever. All blunders of a world- historic nature.
Worst of all, his vainglorious ambition has caused the unnecessary deaths and suffering of tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians, civilian and military, young and old, which will afford him a special place in history, along with all the other psychopathic tyrants who ultimately were defeated. It's a fate that can't come too soon.
(Photo: A column of Russian armor destroyed in Bucha in March 2022/ AFP via Getty Images)
