Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
May 19, 2022, 10:54 AM EDT
Russian soldier accused of killing Ukrainian civilian appears in court
Vadim Shishmarin, 21, is back in court, one day after he pleading guilty to killing a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian just days into the conflict.
Shishmarin confessed to the killing Thursday morning.
The widow of the victim testified in court that her husband meant everything to her, and she thinks the Russian soldier deserves life in prison, but if he gets exchanged for any of the Azovstal defenders she wouldn’t object.
"I feel very sorry for him," she said. "But for a crime like that -- I can't forgive him."
Shishimarin could spend the rest of his life in prison.
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti
May 19, 2022, 10:53 AM EDT
Russia continues mass shelling on Sumy region
Mass shelling of the Sumy region continued from Russian territory Wednesday evening, said Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, the governor of Sumy, on Telegram.
The shelling was along the entire border between the Sumy region and Russia, according to Zhyvytskyy.
Zhyvytskyy said Ukraine responded to the shelling appropriately and no casualties were reported.
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti
May 19, 2022, 9:47 AM EDT
Zelenskyy adviser says cease-fire is impossible without Russian troops withdrawing
Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Russia not to offer Ukraine a cease-fire, because it would be impossible without Russian troops' withdrawal.
"Ukraine is not interested in new 'Minsk' and the war renewal in a few years," Podolyak said in a tweet, referring to the capital of Belarus and that country's allegiance to Russia. "Until [Russia] is ready to fully liberate occupied territories, our negotiating team is weapons, sanctions and money."
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti
May 19, 2022, 8:29 AM EDT
Red Cross registers hundreds of Ukrainian POWs from Mariupol
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it has registered hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war from a besieged steel plant in war-ravaged Mariupol this week, after the Ukrainian city fell into Russian hands.
A team from the ICRC began on Tuesday to register combatants leaving the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, including the wounded, at the request of the parties to the conflict. The operation continued Wednesday and was still ongoing Thursday. The ICRC is not transporting prisoners of war to the places where they are held, according to a press release from the organization.
"The registration process that the ICRC facilitated involves the individual filling out a form with personal details like name, date of birth and closest relative," the organization said. "This information allows the ICRC to track those who have been captured and help them keep in touch with their families."
Red Cross staff drives to Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant to observe the evacuation of Ukrainian servicemen from Azovstal steel plant, in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, Ukraine, May 18, 2022.
AP
The Geneva-based humanitarian agency, which has been working in Ukraine since 2014, noted that it "maintains a confidential dialogue with the parties to the conflict on their obligations under international humanitarian law."
"In accordance with the mandate given to the ICRC by States under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the ICRC must have immediate access to all POWs in all places where they are held," the organization added. "The ICRC must be allowed to interview prisoners of war without witnesses, and the duration and frequency of these visits should not be unduly restricted. Whenever circumstances permit, each party to the conflict must take all possible measures to search for and collect the dead."
For weeks, Ukrainian fighters and civilians were holed up inside Mariupol's vast Azovstal plant as the remaining pocket of Ukrainian resistance to Russia's relentless bombardment of the strategic southeastern port city. Russia claimed Thursday that 1,730 Ukrainian fighters had surrendered in Mariupol over the previous three days, while Ukraine confirmed Tuesday that more than 250 had yielded in the initial hours after it ordered them to do so.
Mariupol is the largest city that Russian forces have seized since launching an invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24. Its complete capture gives Russia total control of the coast of the Sea of Azov as well as a continuous stretch of territory along eastern and southern Ukraine.
