Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
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.
Apr 20, 2022, 10:58 AM EDT
Tennis players from Russia, Belarus banned from Wimbledon Championships
Tennis players from Russia and Belarus have been banned from this summer's Wimbledon Championships due to the "unjustified and unprecedented military aggression" in Ukraine, The All England Lawn Tennis Club said.
"It would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players," the statement said, adding: "If circumstances change materially between now and June, we will consider and respond accordingly."
Apr 20, 2022, 9:44 AM EDT
Ukrainian refugees top 5 million
Over 5 million people have now fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
People cross from Ukraine into Poland at the border crossing between Shehyni and Medyka as they flee from the Russian invasion on April 3, 2022.
Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
The majority of those refugees -- over 2.8 million -- are in Poland.
People who have fled the war in Ukraine gather outside a temporary refugee shelter that was formerly an abandoned TESCO supermarket in Przemysl, Poland, on March 29, 2022, after being transported from the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images
Apr 20, 2022, 7:55 AM EDT
Russia again calls for surrender at Mariupol steel plant
Russia’s military issued another ultimatum on Wednesday, calling for Ukrainian forces to lay down their arms and leave a Mariupol steel plant, according to Russian state media.
Moscow claimed that Ukrainian troops and civilians would be allowed to leave the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant without harm during a cease-fire beginning at 2 p.m. local time.
Ukrainian forces at the besieged plant rejected a similar offer on Tuesday.
A view shows a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works company in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, April 19, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
More than 1,000 civilians are sheltering on the grounds of the sprawling industrial plant, the Mariupol City Council said on Monday.
A Russian official, Dmitry Polyansky, on Tuesday accused Ukrainian troops of using civilians at the plant as human shields.
“One month into the siege of Azovstal plant, those same radicals and neo-Nazis suddenly declared that allegedly there had been civilians inside the plant all that time, even though until yesterday, they had never uttered a word about it," Polyansky told the U.N. Security Council during a session on Ukraine on Tuesday.
Apr 19, 2022, 11:40 PM EDT
Russia could be making probing attacks ahead of larger assault in Donbas: US official
As Ukrainian forces brace for a full-scale assault in the eastern part of the country, a U.S. official said the increased pace of operations from Russian forces in the past 24 hours could be probing attacks or the beginning of the main battle for the Donbas.
The defense official said the Russian offensive to seize southeastern Ukraine will likely involve a frontal assault from inside Russia and a double envelopment, or encircling, of Ukrainian forces in the Donbas. Russian forces will come south from Izyum and troops in the Berdyansk area will move north to encircle Ukrainian forces in the Joint Forces Operations area in the Donbas.
A Ukrainian serviceman stand next to a Javelin anti-tank missile, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, at a position in Donetsk Region, Ukraine, April 18, 2022.
Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters
But the U.S. defense official said Ukraine has the advantage in the region since they have prepared a defense for years, including digging trenches, preparing anti-armor traps and ambush locations and more.
The U.S. and other countries have now provided close to 70,000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine as well as 30,000 anti-aircraft missiles and 7,000 launchers to fire them, according to the defense official.
As for stopping the shipments of those weapons, the U.S. believes Russia will target the paths and roads in western Ukraine being used to ship Western military aid into Ukraine even though it has not done so yet. Still, it's believed with the amount of weaponry being delivered to Ukrainian forces, it will be impossible to stop it all.
