War Archive

It is the early morning of February 24th, 2022. Just minutes after the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin declares his “Special Military Operation” or simply full-scale invasion in Ukraine, the Russian 3M-54 Caliber Cruise Missile is on the way toward its target. First, it seems like it will strike the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, like many other missiles today. However, its real target is the military base 3018 of the National Guard of Ukraine, just 10 kilometers away from the city. Around 6 am, the missile explodes on the empty exercise ground in front of the barracks. A couple of minutes later, another one hits near the local residential buildings. This is the first attack on the small town, which will become known for one of the most significant and fierce battles of the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion. This town is called Hostomel.

It’s the early evening of April 13th, 2022. Just 120 kilometers from the shore, Ukrainian land radar detects some large vessel. After carefully verifying and analyzing data, Ukrainians come to a surprising conclusion. On the 49th day of the Full-Scale Russian Invasion, they finally tracked down something big. The target is correctly identified as the warship Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet, which performs its duties as a part of invading force.

It’s the early morning of October 8th, 2022. At approximately 6 am, the policeman checks the truck that travels from Russia to the annexed part of Ukraine. After the brief talk with the driver, the policeman takes a look inside. Seeing only some industrial film reels policeman decides to come back to more important business and lets the truck continue its journey to the Crimean peninsula. The only way to get there is via the Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects the Russian mainland with the territory of Ukraine, occupied by Russia in 2014. The policeman, however, did not realize that the truck that he had just inspected will never get to the end of Crimean Bridge.

It is the early morning of February 24, 2022. Russian forces in the Belgorod region that for months were amassing on the Ukrainian border under the cover of military exercises are now ready to fulfill their true mission. Three Russian Armies, 1st Guards Tank, 20s Guards Combined Arms, and 6th Combined Arms plan to launch a land attack on one of the key Ukrainian cities. In total, they have around 20000 men with hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, backed up with rocket and conventional artillery. Their target is the second largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv. Major industrial, economic, and cultural center with a pre-war population of 1.5 million people. After the capital Kyiv, it has the second-largest number of military-related enterprises such as tank and armored vehicle factories as well as suppliers of a variety of military aviation components.

t’s June 23rd, 2023. The social media pages of Private Military Company Wagner start sharing a video about what they called a rocket and artillery strike on their camps. However, the PMC, which was involved in fighting with Ukraine on the Russian side for almost the whole duration of the conflict, adds a shocking detail. The strike was allegedly authorized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. Wagner mercenaries are currently recovering in their training camps in the occupied Ukrainian Donbas Region after the devastating battle for Bakhmut. The camps where most of the mercenaries are located were out of the reach of the Ukrainian military, so according to the Wagner chief, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the Russian Ministry of Defense deliberately started destroying its now former allies.

It’s the early morning of February 24th, 2022. At 4:30 am, two Russian tankers in the Sea of Azov, start moving directly to the city of Mariupol by the shortest path from Yeysk. This atypical behavior is seen on the radar screens in the Coastal Defense Headquarters at Mariupol Airport. There, the officers from multiple units responsible for the Ukrainian coastline come to the conclusion that the Russian Invasion of Ukraine has begun. The orders are given to start mining the waters near the Mariupol seaport. In a few hours, they are proven right as the city is attacked by naval artillery of Russian ships that apparently use tankers as decoys. Simultaneously, Russian cruise missiles, attack aviation, and land artillery start pounding the Ukrainian defenses in the east, giving the official start to the battles for Mariupol. Invaders also specifically target the Coastal Defense Headquarters but failed to inflict significant damage. Still, the operations of the center are halted as most of

t’s the early morning of August 29th, 2022. In the occupied city of Kherson, which is currently under the control of Russian troops, a barrage of GMLRS guided missiles strikes the command post of the Russian military. The ammunition and vehicle depots in Beryslav, located on the territory of the machine-building plant, are under a similar strike, as well as military objects in Havrylivka and Lvove, which were most likely the places of troops’ concentrations. Ukrainian missiles also pound the Kakhovka Dam bridge. Such strikes that aimed to isolate Russians on the right bank of the Dnipro River were quite common during July and August and significantly degraded the main Russian supply lines through Antonivka car and train bridges. However, the strikes on August 29th are abnormally numerous, because, on this day, Ukraine begins its major counteroffensive to retake the city of Kherson and sweep the only Russian lodgement area on the right bank of the Dnipro River.

It’s early morning of September 6th, 2022. As all the eyes of the world are focused on the counteroffensive that began in the Kherson region a week ago, Ukrainians intensify their artillery strikes in the Kharkiv region. Here, Russians expected a series of small-scale tactical offensives from Ukrainians, but they severely miscalculated the forces that their adversary gathered. Maintaining their primary focus on the Kherson region, Russian higher military command made a strategic blunder. And Ukrainians are about to use it to inflict one of the most humiliating and significant defeats on their enemy since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.