Back on the day of the Russian attack taken by the Ukrainians

3 months ago

The attack was feared for several weeks, but finally launched early in the morning on Thursday, February 24th. Vladimir Putin signaled hostilities in a video released at dawn three days after admitting the independence of the Ukrainian region of Donetsk and Luhansk, alleged by separatists since 2014.

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However, the attacks were not limited to these two areas. Airstrikes and land invasions interrupted in the last few hours have targeted the entire Ukrainian territory, from Donbus to Lutzk (less than 100 km from the Polish border) via the capital Kiev. Many images from webcams available online and from webcams taken by locals record this chaotic day. I have placed some of them geographically and numbered them to represent them on this map.

Maps of some collisions observed thanks to amateur images during the Russian attack on February 24, 2022 (JESSICA KOMGUEN / FRANCEINFO)

The various numbered points on this map are listed in the description below.

Crossed the border at dawn

Images of border posts will be published online from the morning. They represent the intersection between Belarus and Ukraine, where many armored vehicles circulate (1). They come from the Ukrainian border guard webcam, which made it possible to record such intersections several times in the morning. Advances in Russian armor have also been recorded by other surveillance cameras in the country (3).

The Ukrainian Border Guard has also released a video (2) showing several armored vehicles crossing the border between Crimea and Ukraine. In these images taken at the Karanchak border post, dozens of vehicles drive in the wrong direction into the Ukrainian region of Kherson.

Many military facilities were destroyed

At the same time, Russian troops launched several aerial operations to destroy Ukrainian military equipment. In the afternoon, Moscow claimed to have destroyed 74 air bases, including 11 air bases, according to a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman. One of the first images, available online, is about the western Ivanofrankovsk International Airport (4), which was the target of the morning missile. It is located about 130km from the Polish border and has a military base, but it was also visited by civilians frequently.

Other air force bases followed the same fate. That of Lutsk, Located in the northwest of the country (5). In the morning, smoke was also observed near the Ochakiv Naval Base near Odessa in the southwest (6) and near the radar base near Mariupol in the east. Was also destroyed (7).

Kharkov and eastern cities were hit hard

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second most populous city, was quickly attacked by Russian bombardment. In the morning, soldiers from Moscow attempted a breakthrough in the eastern part of the country, and civilians still in their buildings heard and photographed what looked like a gunshot not far from their home (8). ..

Other amateur videos show the result of a deadly clash between Russian and Ukrainian troops. Just outside Kharkov, The tank is burning or still smoking Summarize the intensity of the battle. Other cities in the eastern part of the country, such as Dnipre, are being targeted.At the end of the day, Russian tanks were observed in the town Smee (9) More than 260,000 inhabitants live. Finally, sAccording to the Russian Defense Ministry, pro-Russian separatists who were exposed to Russian bombardment in an attack on eastern Ukrainian troops traveled 7 km in the attack.

Fierce battle in Kiev

Throughout the day, Kiev and the area were in a fierce battle. Air, first. In the afternoon, many helicopters were observed north of the capital, where the military airport of Hostmel (10) is located. Russian and Ukrainian aircraft sometimes exchanged fire across homes.

Other videos revealed bombing (11), dogfights, crashed aircraft, or thick smoke clouds. After hours of combat and the arrival of the Russian Airborne Troops, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that the enemy had conquered a military airport about 40 kilometers from the capital. In Kiev, bombing prevention sirens sounded most of the day, major traffic jams accumulated on the roads, and some residents wanted to escape the city.

Chernobyl, a little further north, is also the site of a major collision. At the end of the day, the President of Ukraine announced that the nuclear power plant had fallen into the hands of Russian troops from Belarus.