Saturday will mark the two-year anniversary of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Although the Russian military initially made broad advances into the country beginning on February 24, 2022, Ukrainian forces, backed by Western support, resisted fiercely, forcing Russia to pull back into eastern and southern Ukraine. Soon, front lines hundreds of miles long were established, and the war evolved into a long and punishing battle of artillery, drones, and close combat across trenches, shattered forests, and ruined villages. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed or injured in the conflict. As Russia continues to launch missiles into all parts of Ukraine and presses forward with ground attacks across the front line, Ukrainian forces face intensifying shortages of manpower and ammunition. Gathered below are images from recent months, showing a region reshaped by two years of war.
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A Ukrainian infantryman fires an RPG, seen in the direction of Kreminna, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on February 15, 2024. #
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A view of a building destroyed by a Russian rocket strike in Donetsk Oblast, seen on January 26, 2024. #
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A Ukrainian serviceman carries a portrait of Diana Savita Wagner, a German combat medic who joined Ukrainian Armed Forces as a volunteer and was killed by Russian troops in the country's East, during her funeral ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 14, 2024. #
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A view of a newly-dug trench for Ukrainian soldiers, near the border with Belarus, in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine, on December 14, 2023 #
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The State Emergency Service of Ukraine works to extinguish a fire at a warehouse, after rocket attacks struck the center of the capital of Ukraine on December 29, 2023, in Kyiv. In that attack, Russia struck targets in several major Ukrainian cities, damaging or destroying a maternity hospital, schools, a shopping center, high-rise apartment buildings, and private houses, leaving at least 12 dead and 75 wounded. #
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A view of a bridge, destroyed earlier in the war, in Bohorodychne, Donetsk Oblast, on January 27, 2024. #
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Alina Panina, 27-year-old, Ukrainian border guard member and former prisoner of war, embraces her service dog named Roksi in the town of Novovolynsk, Volyn region, Ukraine, on January 23, 2024. #
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Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine repair armored vehicles and tanks near the frontline in the Donetsk region on January 2, 2024. #
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A bird's-eye view of the embattled city of Avdiivka, seen on December 7, 2023. At the time, both Ukraine and Russia were claiming gains in the city, which later fell to Russian forces in February of 2024. #
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A Ukrainian serviceman carries a reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle after it flew above a front line area in the Zaporizhzhia region on February 15, 2024. #
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Ukrainian soldiers fire artillery in the direction of Bakhmut, in Donetsk Oblast, on November 3, 2023. #
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A Ukrainian infantryman keeps watch in the trenches on the front line, near Bakhmut, on January 19, 2024. #
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Bodies of Russian soldiers lie among debris in a trench, seen on December 23, 2023, in Avdiivka, Ukraine. #
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The skull of a Russian soldier lies inside a trench at a former Russian position outside the village of Robotyne, in the Zaporizhzhia region, seen on November 4, 2023. #
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An aerial photograph shows destroyed houses in the village of Bohorodychne, Donetsk region, on January 27, 2024. Bohorodychne is a village in the Donetsk region that came under heavy attack by Russian forces in June of 2022, and was captured on August 17, 2022. The Armed Forces of Ukraine announced on September 12, 2022, that they had taken back control over the village. #
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A Ukrainian soldier, photographed in a tank moments before heading to the front line in the direction of Bakhmut, on January 23, 2024. #
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Rescuers extinguish a fire in a residential building following a missile attack in Kyiv on February 7, 2024. #
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Smoke rises from a building that was heavily damaged after Russian strike hit city center of Dnipro, Ukraine, on December 29, 2023. #
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Ukrainian servicemen of the Rarog UAV squadron of the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade operate a drone at a position near the town of Horlivka on January 17, 2024. #
Reuters Read more -
Destroyed Russian tanks are seen near the village of Bohorodychne on February 13, 2024. #
Reuters Read more -
A Ukrainian infantryman fires a grenade launcher toward Russian positions, from a trench near Kreminna, Donetsk Oblast, on February 15, 2024. #
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Ukrainian army medics treat a wounded soldier at a stabilization point in the direction of Bakhmut-Siversk on November 9, 2023. #
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Local resident Elena Rodik reacts while showing her damaged apartment inside a house hit by recent shelling in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on December 12, 2023. #
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Participants learn how to handle weapons at a civilian training center on November 11, 2023, in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, many Ukrainians attend courses where civilians can learn skills they need in times of war. #
Oleksandr Lapshyn / Global Images Ukraine / Getty Read more -
A Ukrainian soldier and his girlfriend say goodbye at a train station in Kramatorsk on December 10, 2023. #
Marek M. Berezowski / Anadolu / Getty Read more -
An exploding missile is seen in the sky over the city during a Russian missile and drone strike in Kyiv on December 29, 2023. #
Gleb Garanich / Reuters Read more -
An interior view of a destroyed building, located near a frontline position, after Russian shelling in Donetsk Oblast on February 16, 2024. #
Jose Colon / Anadolu / Getty Read more -
A Ukrainian soldier plays with a dog in his fighting position in the direction of Bakhmut on February 20, 2024. #
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A Ukrainian soldier covers his ears as a 120mm mortar blasts from its tube, as soldiers of the 1st Presidential Brigade of the Ukraine National Guard fire from the Kreminna Forest at Russian positions on February 17, 2024. #
Scott Peterson / Getty Read more -
A soldier from the 67th Motorized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces walks through a burned forest, following Russian shelling, on a section of the front line along the Donetsk River on December 21, 2023. #
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