Russia launched its attack on eastern Ukraine on February 24, 2022. World leaders have condemned the attack as "barbaric" and have rolled out major sanctions against Russia. Warning: Some images included in this gallery may disturb some readers.
Before-and-after satellite imagery below shows the damage done to the hard-hit eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut over the past year.
They were taken in May 2022 and May 2023 and show the complete destruction of parts of the small city.
This satellite image provided by MaxarTechnologies shows a demolished Bakhmut school and smouldering- apartment buildings in the city, on May 15, 2023. (Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)
In contrast, this satellite image from May 8, 2022, showed the same area, with buildings and trees intact.
(Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)
This satellite image revealed the demolished university buildings and the radio tower in Bakhmut, Ukraine, Monday, May 15, 2023.
Ukrainian Deputy Defenve Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukraine's forces are holding on to substantial areas around the city against Russian attacks.
(Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)
The university buildings and the radio tower in Bakhmut were undamaged by the war when a satellite took this image on May 8, 2022.
(Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)
European leaders promised Volodymyr Zelenskyy an arsenal of missiles, tanks and drones during the Ukrainian president's whirlwind visit to Italy, the Vatican, Germany, France and the UK aimed at turning the tide of the war.
His visit aimed to replenish Ukraine's depleted weapons supplies ahead of a long-anticipated spring offensive aimed at turning the tide of the war.
(Wolfgang Kumm/dpa via AP, File)
Security was tight in all the countries that hosted the Ukrainian president during his three-day tour of Europe.
In Germany, police snipers were stationed on rooftops when Zelenskky was awarded the International Charlemagne Prize in Aachen. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The UK pledged hundreds more air defence missiles for Ukraine, as well as attack drones with a range of more than 200kms after Zelenskyy met Britain's Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak at his country retreat Chequers.
The UK has been among the most staunchest supporters of Ukraine and earlier this month sent it long range cruise missiles.
France, where Ukraine's leader met President Emmanuel Macron, said it would supply Ukraine with dozens of light tanks and armoured vehicles, along with unspecified air defence systems.
But Zelenskyy's aim of forming an international "fighter jet coalition" to supply Ukraine with planes has run up against NATO concern about escalating the alliance's role in the war. Ukraine wants US-made F-16s to supplement its Soviet-era jets, but the Biden administration has resisted calls to send them.
(AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
The flurry of announcements from Europe's capitals was part diplomatic theatre.
Ukraine gets a steady flow of equipment from the West, and some of the weapons announced this week may already have been on the way. Zelenskyy's trip was about securing supplies for the long term, as well as the imminent offensive.(AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)
Zelenskyy began his European tour in Rome, where he received a hearty commitment from Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni — and a more nuanced and less welcome message from Pope Francis.
While Francis has frequently prayed for the "martyred" Ukrainian people, he has also lamented the Russian mothers who have lost their sons. The equivalence, and Francis' reluctance to outright condemn Russia, is part of the Vatican's tradition of neutrality in conflicts.
(Vatican News via AP, File)
President Vladimir Putin declared that the West has unleashed "a real war" against Russia, reprising a familiar refrain at scaled-down Victory Day celebrations that may reflect the toll the Ukraine conflict is taking on his forces.
Putin's remarks came on, May 9, 2023, marking the 78th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The Russian leader has repeatedly sought to paint his invasion of Ukraine as necessary to defend against a Western threat.
Kyiv and its Western allies say they pose no such threat and that Moscow's war is meant to deter Western influence in a country that Russia considers part of its sphere of influence.
"Today civilisation is once again at a decisive turning point," Putin said.
Putin has often used patriotic rhetoric that harkens back to the earlier war in an effort to rally his citizens and forces — and May 9 is one of the most important dates in the Russian political calendar.
But this year's celebrations were markedly smaller, at least partially because of security concerns after several drone attacks have been reported inside Russia.
Some 8,000 troops took part in the parade in Moscow's Red Square on May 9 - the lowest number since 2008. There was no fly-over of military jets, and the event lasted less than the usual hour.
"This is weak. There are no tanks," said Yelena Orlova, watching the vehicles rumble down Moscow's Novy Arbat avenue after leaving Red Square.
The US based Associated Press was awarded a prestigious Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography on May 9, 2023 in recognition of searing images that rendered in real-time the devastating human toll of the war in Ukraine.
They included this image from June 4, 2022, of a man looking at buildings destroyed during Russian attacks on Borodyanka on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Volodymyr, injured from a strike, sits in his damaged apartment in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on July 7, 2022.
The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
Ukrainian civilians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee by crossing the Irpin River on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 5, 2022.
The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
A woman reacts after receiving food donations from the World Central Kitchen in Kherson, in southern Ukraine, on Thursday, November 17, 2022.
The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.
Ukrainian emergency workers and police officers evacuate injured pregnant woman, Iryna Kalinina, 32, from a maternity hospital that was damaged by a Russian airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022.
The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
A man runs with items recovered from a burning shop following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 25, 2022.
The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
Elderly people are evacuated from a hospice in Chasiv Yar city, Donetsk district, Ukraine, on April 18, 2022.
The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.