Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation” into Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with troops crossing the border from Belarus and Russia. Moscow's forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.
Russian forces retreated last week from the Kyiv suburbs, leaving behind a trail of destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, U.S. and European officials accused Russian troops of committing war crimes.
A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 23, 2022, 10:11 AM EDT
Video shows entire neighborhoods destroyed in Mariupol
Video has emerged showing the devastation in Ukraine's besieged city of Mariupol.
Drone footage recorded Wednesday and released by a Ukrainian right-wing paramilitary group that has been incorporated into Ukraine's National Guard shows entire neighborhoods destroyed in Mariupol. Mere shells are all that remain of buildings and smoke is still rising from some of the wreckage. The video has been verified by ABC News.
Ukrainian troops are continuing to battle persistent efforts by Russian forces to seize the strategic port city in southeastern Ukraine.
-ABC News' Fergal Gallagher
Mar 23, 2022, 9:17 AM EDT
Belarus expels several Ukrainian diplomats, closes Ukrainian Consulate General
Belarus announced Wednesday its decision to expel several Ukrainian diplomats and close the Ukrainian Consulate General in Brest.
"The Ukrainian embassy will continue to work in Belarus in a 1+4 format, that is, an ambassador and four staff members," Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said in a statement, according to the state-run news agency BelTA.
Mar 23, 2022, 8:27 AM EDT
Ukraine says 100,000 remain trapped in besieged Mariupol
Fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces continued in Mariupol on Wednesday morning, with the Ukrainian government warning that as many as 100,000 civilians -- or 22% of the besieged port city's original population -- remain trapped there.
One Mariupol resident, Natalia, who managed to escape with her elderly parents and four cats, told ABC News her home had no electricity or heat and that she would have to scavenge for food and other supplies under Russian bombardment. She recalled seeing bodies strewn in the streets because residents had no choice but to leave them there.
"We understood anytime we might be killed by the next bomb," Natalia said during an interview Tuesday.
This Maxar satellite image taken and released on March 22, 2022, shows burning and destroyed high-rise apartment buildings in Mariupol, Ukraine.
Maxar Technologies/AFP via Getty Images
Pro-Russia separatist forces from the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic in Ukraine's disputed Donbas region said Wednesday that 562 civilians, including 110 children, were evacuated from encircled Mariupol to the occupied town of Bezymenne in the past 24 hours. A total of 4,621 civilians were evacuated from Mariupol between March 5 and March 23, according to the separatist forces.
3:23
Ukrainian forces strike back as Russia steps up siege of MariupolJames Longman reports from Lviv with the latest on the war in Ukraine.
ABCNews.com
Mar 23, 2022, 7:59 AM EDT
Russia claims to have swapped prisoners with Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners twice since the start of the war, according to Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
"Two prisoner exchanges have been completed between Russia and Ukraine," Zakharova said in a statement Wednesday.
