their country. it seemed vladimir putin had an accountant for this, the will of the ukrainian people led by unlikely people, vladimir zelenskyy. the nation rallied by the comedian turned politician, now wartime leader. facing and failing to target, kyiv russia focused its attacks on eastern ukraine. moscow called it a change of strategy. for the ukrainians, it was a major victory. but any celebrations were short-lived. as russian forces withdrew from around kyiv. evidence of atrocities and war crimes on a massive scale emerged. first in bucha, the pattern would continue and other liberated areas. ukrainian officials documented 50,000 alleged russian war crimes. russia has repeatedly denied that its soldiers are
rallied behind the comedian turned politician, now wartime leader. facing resistance and failing to capture kyiv, russia focused its attacks on eastern ukraine. moscow called it a change of strategy. for the ukrainians, it was a major victory. any celebrations were short-lived as russian forces withdrew from around kyiv. evidence of atrocities and were crimes on a massive scale emerged. first in bucha, the pattern would continue and other liberated areas. ukrainian officials documented 50,000 a legit russian war crimes. russia has repeatedly denied its soldiers are responsible. why do you think this is happening, that there are thousands of russian war crimes here? something was a broken with
unlikely hero, president volodymyr zelenskyy, the nation rallied behind the comedian turned politician, now wartime leader. facing resistance and failing to capture kyiv, russia focused its attacks on eastern ukraine. moscow called it a change of strategy for the ukrainians it was a major victory, but any celebrations were short lived. as russian forces wut drew from around kyiv, evidence of atrocities and war crimes on a massive scale emerged. the pat herb would continue in other liberated areas. ukrainian officials documented 50,000 alleged russian war crimes. russia can has repeatedly denied its soldiers are responsible. why do you think this is happening, that there are now thousands of allegations of war crimes?
correspondent richard engle takes a look back at the start of the invasion, the escalation, and where things stand as we near one year of fighting. we should issue this warning, some of the footage you re about to see is graphic. reporter: in the twilight hours of february 24th, president vladimir putin took to russian state television to announce a special military operation that aimed to demilitarize and de-nazi-fy ukraine. minutes later, explosions rocked ukraine s capital, kyiv. missiles rained down across the country, and russia s massive military moved across the border. [ siren ] putin s special operation was clearly war. although putin had long denied his intentions to invade his neighbor, he openly claimed ukraine was part of russia and demonized ukraine s leaders. putin had already illegally
vladimir putin took to russian state television to announce a special military operation that aimed to demilitarize and denaziify ukraine. minutes later, explosions rocked ukraine s capital, kyiv. missiles rained down across the country. and russia s massive military moved across the border. putin s special operation was clearly war. although putin had long denied his intentions to invade his neighbor, he had openly claimed ukraine was part of russia and demonized ukraine s leaders. putin had already illegally annexed ukrainian territory, the crimean peninsula, in 2014, with little international backlash. this time, condemnation came quickly. putin s choice to make a totally unjustifiable war on ukraine will have left russia weaker, and the rest of the