Friday marks the 100th day since Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine intent on taking over the country quickly and overthrowing democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a puppet government loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin. As the war has grown longer and costlier than the Kremlin expected, the Russians have pursued smaller and smaller goals.
After failing to take Kyiv, the Russian forces have zeroed in on the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014. The Ukrainians, with the help of Western allies, have held off Russia over the past 100 days, but it remains to be seen how many more days the fight will continue.
Here is a timeline of some of the key events in the past 100 days of the invasion:
Feb. 19-23
Russian forces "uncoiling"
After weeks of warning a Russian invasion of Ukraine was imminent, the Biden administration assessed Putin had made the decision to invade. While traveling in Lithuania, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian forces were "uncoiling and now poised to strike."
Feb. 24
Invasion starts
Early in the morning on February 24, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The invasion started with about 100 missiles fired from both land- and sea-based platforms, and then with ground incursions on three main axes of assault: in the north, from Belarus down towards Kyiv; in the east, from western Russia down towards Kharkiv; and in the south, from Crimea up to Kherson.