Ukraine war: Russia launches ninth missile attack on Kyiv this month
May 18: Ukraine's capital Kyiv has been attacked from the air by Russia for the ninth time this month.
One person has been killed and two more wounded in a missile strike on Odesa, a Black Sea port city in the southwest, officials say.
June 21: The United Kingdom, United States and European Union have pledged billions of dollars more help to Kyiv as a London conference focused on rebuilding efforts is underway.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed the support but cautions Western nations should move from
May 16: The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has been targeted by further Russian air attacks, described by one official as "exceptional in density".
Ukraine said all 18 missiles were shot down and footage showed air defences destroying targets over the city.
May 4: Explosions have been heard in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, a day after Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out a drone attack on the Kremlin.
Attacks were also reported in Zaporizhzhia and Odesa in the south.
The air strikes come
SEPT 22: However, Russian forces still hold about a fifth of the country.
How has the conflict changed?
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, surrounding the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. It also launched attacks in the south, east and north of the country.
In early April, Ukrainian forces retook large areas around Kyiv, after Russia abandoned its push towards the capital.
Russia has since been focusing its military operations in the south, east and north-east of Ukraine, seizing large areas.
However, things changed dramatically at the start of September.
In a decisive offensive in the north-east, Ukraine drove back Russian forces. It claims to have regained 3,000 square kilometres (1,158 sq miles) of territory around the city of Kharkiv alone.
Its forces have also retaken territory in Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine. Since July, the region had been entirely occupied by Russia.
In total, Ukraine says it has retaken more than 8,000 sq km (3,088 sq miles) from Russian control in September - its most significant territorial gains since the war started.
The cities of Izyum and Kupiansk, which Ukraine says were retaken on 10 September, were both key supply hubs for the Russian forces. As such, these represent important strategic gains.
There is also a Ukrainian counter-attack around the Kherson region in the south of the country.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says Ukrainian troops have inflicted a "major operational defeat" on Russian forces.
Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute said Russian positions in Kharkiv had suffered a "total collapse".
The Russian withdrawal was, he said, "certainly the most dramatic reverse that we've seen from the Russians since they retreated from Kyiv in April".
How has Russia responded?
Russia confirmed that its forces retreated from Izyum and Kupiansk. It said this was a strategic withdrawal to "regroup".
It has also said it will continue to target these areas with military strikes.
The Russian army appears to have abandoned large quantities of equipment and ammunition during the withdrawal.
How much territory does Russia still occupy?
Russia still holds about 20% of Ukraine, according to the ISW.
The areas are largely in the eastern Donbas region and in the south of mainland Ukraine, as well as the Crimea peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014.
The Donbas is a mainly Russian-speaking area, and after Russia seized Crimea in 2014, pro-Russian forces captured more than a third of the region. It created two so-called people's republics there.
Areas in the west of the country, including Lviv, have experienced missile attacks, but no attempt by Russian forces to take and occupy ground.
What does Russia want?
Russia refuses to recognise its invasion as a war, and says it is undertaking a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said its operations would continue "until all the tasks originally set" had been achieved.
When launching the invasion in February, President Vladimir Putin said his goal was to "demilitarise Ukraine".
One objective was to ensure Ukraine didn't join the Western defensive alliance, Nato.
Russia's initial aim was to overrun Ukraine and depose its government.
However, it now appears to have limited its ambitions to securing land in Ukraine's east and south.
What does Ukraine want?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his main goal is to drive all Russian troops out, to "de-occupy our whole territory".
Mr Zelensky has appealed for more funding and equipment to retain the areas retaken from Russia.
Western shipments of weaponry are being used heavily by Ukrainian forces.
How many have people have died?
Both sides have suffered losses, although neither publish exact numbers.
Ukraine claims it has killed more than 50,000 Russian troops, and at the end of August said it had lost nearly 9,000 military personnel since the start of the conflict.
Russia rarely discloses its own troop fatalities. Its most recent death count was in March, when it said 1,351 Russian soldiers had died since the invasion began.
In July, US officials estimated that about 15,000 Russian soldiers had died.
Civilians have also died. At the start of September the United Nations corroborated more than 5,700 deaths.
However, it said the actual number is likely to be considerably higher.
JUNE 17: "Ukraine belongs to the European family," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a joint briefing in Kyiv.
But he added that Ukraine still had to meet the accession criteria in full.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the 27-member EU would stand by Ukraine until its victory against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described Russia's continuing aggression as a war "against the united Europe", adding that the "most effective weapon" was unity.
And he again appealed for more heavy weapons to be sent urgently for Ukraine to be able to defend itself more effectively and liberate territories seized by Moscow since the start of the invasion on 24 February.
Earlier on Thursday, the four EU leaders visited the devastated town of Irpin near Kyiv, which for several weeks was occupied by Russia.
Ukraine accuses Russian soldiers of committing war crimes by killing hundreds of civilians in Irpin and nearby towns such as Bucha - a claim denied by Moscow.
The visit to Kyiv comes as Russian troops are continuing their assault on the key city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Capturing Severodonetsk - and its twin city of Lysychansk - has for weeks been a top military goal for Russia, as the Kremlin seeks to control all of the wider Luhansk region.
President Macron and Chancellor Scholz, together with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, visited Ukraine for the first time since the war began.
The trip came a day before the European Commission is due to make a recommendation on whether to give Ukraine an EU candidate status. All 27 EU leaders will then discuss the issue at a summit on 23 and 24 June.
Some of the bloc's members have been lukewarm about Ukraine's accession to the EU, and the words of support from France, Germany and Italy - the three EU heavyweights - could sway their position.
However, candidacy status will only be the next step on the road to the full membership, which may take years.
Before the Kyiv visit, Ukrainian officials repeatedly criticised France, Germany and Italy for being slow in delivering weapons and placing too much focus on appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this month, Mr Macron said it was vital that Russia was not humiliated over its invasion, suggesting that Mr Putin should have a way out of what he called a "fundamental error".
Meanwhile in Moscow, Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is now deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, on Thursday criticised the EU leaders' trip on Twitter, using a dismissive slur relating to stereotypes of three of the EU nations' cuisines.
"European fans of frogs, liverwurst and spaghetti" loved visiting Kyiv, he wrote. "With zero use."
With inputs from BBC
Russian forces resumed scattered attacks on Kyiv, western Ukraine and beyond Saturday in an explosive reminder to Ukrainians and their Western supporters that the whole country remains under threat
MARCH 30: The decision to scale back operations around the capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv is the first sign of tangible progress.
But it is unclear how extensive any reduction in military activity might be, and Ukraine remains sceptical.
Russia had already refocused its campaign on Ukraine's eastern regions.
It has suffered a series of setbacks to the north-west of the capital, Kyiv, and is also seeking to capture a land corridor which stretches along the south coast to the Russian border.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, said he saw no reason to believe the words of some Russian representatives.
"We can say that the signals... are positive, but those signals do not drown out the explosions or Russian shells," he said in a video address late Tuesday.
Officials in Washington said they had already seen the Russians draw away from Kyiv, but they were still pounding the capital with air strikes . The US said it had little confidence that the announcement marked any significant shift or meaningful retreat.
The US had not seen "signs of real seriousness" from Russia in pursuing peace talks, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who pointed to the continued "brutalisation" of Ukraine's people.
During the talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Ukraine proposed to become a neutral state in exchange for security guarantees. A key aim of Russia's invasion was to stop Ukraine joining the Nato alliance and Russian officials said the talks had moved to a practical stage.
Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin, who was in Istanbul, told Russian TV that as "Ukraine's neutrality and non-nuclear status and security guarantees" had progressed, the defence ministry had taken the decision to cut its operations dramatically in the two areas to "create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and for the signing of the aforementioned agreement".
Ukrainian negotiator Oleksandr Chaly told reporters that its offer of neutrality was a chance to "restore the territorial integrity and security of Ukraine through diplomatic and political means". Ukraine's aim was to "fix its status as a de facto non-bloc and non-nuclear state in the form of permanent neutrality".
The discussions here lasted around three hours. Very little was leaked, and nearly all media were kept away in a packed area on a pavement outside.
The key points became clear as members of the Ukrainian delegation came out onto the street an hour before the expected finish.
The negotiators said they had proposed to Russia that Ukraine adopt a neutral status in exchange for security guarantees - an international mechanism where guarantor countries would act to protect Ukraine in future.
In return Kyiv would not join Nato, a key Russian demand. This was not a new pledge, but it was spelt out in the clearest detail yet.
Many are sceptical about what Russia's announcement about reducing military operations actually means; whether it's a pledge to pull back or merely an acceptance it has already failed in those areas and will instead turn its full force further east.
Western countries, therefore, are saying they will judge Russia by its actions and not its words.
Russian forces have encircled Chernihiv, where officials say up to 400 people have been killed and some 130,000 residents are without heating, electricity or water supplies.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said that Russia had twisted the knife in Ukraine and that "we must judge Putin's regime by their actions not their words".
Russia's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said talks had been "meaningful" and Ukraine's proposals on neutrality would be put to President Vladimir Putin, holding out the possibility of a summit involving President Zelensky. However, he made clear that before that could happen a treaty would have to be drafted and approved by negotiators, and then signed by foreign ministers.
"This is not a ceasefire but this is our aspiration, gradually to reach a de-escalation of the conflict at least on these fronts," Mr Medinsky told Russian state news agency Tass.
Launching the invasion, Mr Putin had described Nato as a threat that was becoming more dangerous to Russia by the year. However, there was no mention in the talks of Mr Putin's regular demands that Ukraine be demilitarised or that it be "de-Nazified", an allegation that has been widely ridiculed as Russian propaganda.
Ukraine's negotiators in Istanbul handed the Russians detailed proposals covering neutrality and other core issues in the conflict:
-Ukraine would become a "non-bloc and non-nuclear" state, with no foreign military bases or contingents on its territory
-This would have strict, legally binding guarantees from countries including the UK, China, the USA, Turkey, France, Canada, Italy, Poland and Israel which would agree to protect a neutral Ukraine in the event of attack
-Ukraine would not enter military-political alliances and any international exercises would require consent of guarantor states
-The future status of Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014, would be decided by 15 years of consultations
-The future of the eastern areas held by Russian-backed separatists would be discussed by the two presidents.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said this framework would enable to ceasefire to be agreed without Crimea and the eastern regions being settled.
The proposals would also enable Ukraine to join the European Union, while barring it from becoming part of Nato's defensive military alliance.
With inputs from BBC
MARCH 6: Russian forces continued to shell the city of Mariupol on Saturday, despite agreeing to a ceasefire just hours earlier - throwing an attempted mass evacuation of civilians into chaos as Russia and Ukraine war enters day 10.
Despite West's senctions Russia is continously operating its military operations in Ukraine in the bid to take control over Kyiv, the capital city. Destructions are massive and millions have already fled the country.
Here are some recent pictures taken from BBC:
1693222424_1024.webp)
