“Will support or do support? Tell it like it is.”
“I do support the proposal, um…”
“There you go!”
“I support the proposal of adding the Donetsk
and Luhansk People’s republics to Russia.”
Shortly before the Ukraine war started, we were all baffled by the Security Council
exchange between Putin and a fearful foreign intelligence chief
Sergei Naryshkin who slipped up under pressure.
Three hours later, Putin recognized the independence
of the breakaway republics in a televised statement.
He demanded that Ukraine “stop the hostilities immediately.”
But it wasn’t Ukraine who would start the hostilities.
In this video, we recreate the events from the day
before the invasion and day one of the war.
This was made possible courtesy of Minute by Minute.
These guys have already made two dozen such reconstructions
on their Telegram and X pages.
Their minute-by-minute reconstructions include the 1991 attempted coup
and the capture of the Beslan school.
I’m following this interesting project. You can follow them, too.
The link is in the bio.
But today, we’ll recollect those fateful days from two years back.
Feb. 21. 4:33 PM
It all started 20 minutes before the Security Council meeting.
The former Ponzi scheme executive and the then-DPR leader Denis Pushilin
asked Putin to recognize the independence of the DPR.
On behalf of the DPR residents, we are pleading with you to recognize
the DPR as an independent, democratic, and social state governed by law.
The LPR head, Leonid Pasechnik, followed suit.
I’m pleading with you to recognize the independence and sovereignty of the LPR.
Neither Pushilin nor Pasechnik asked him for an armed invasion
or constitutional annexation of the breakaway republics to Russia.
They were only asking for sovereignty.
Pushilin explained that it was the only way to avoid civilian casualties,
destroyed infrastructure, and ruined homes.
Twenty minutes later, Russian TV started broadcasting
the pre-recorded video of the Security Council meeting.
Putin opened the proceedings by saying that the key job was to
“ensure the country’s sustainable, positive, and peaceful development.”
He added that under no circumstances could Ukraine join NATO.
If Russia faces the threat of Ukraine joining NATO,
the threat it poses to our country will be enormous.
But because no one acknowledges the voices of Crimea and Sevastopol residents
and Ukraine insists that it’s their territory, we are facing a real threat
of them reclaiming the lands they consider to be theirs militarily.
Putin gave the floor to Sergei Lavrov who said that
Secretary of State Blinken had agreed to meet on Feb. 24.
Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, called me a couple of days later
and said he had perused our proposal and offered a meeting to discuss it,
summarize the U.S. reaction, and perhaps ask questions.
Putin, it seemed, didn’t like the idea.
But here’s what Dmitry Kozak, the Russia–Ukraine negotiator, had to say.
According to him, negotiations had hit a dead-end.
He asked about the prospect of annexing the Donbas
and the way it could affect talks with the West.
Mr. President, if, um, I’d like to press on with the potential annexation issue.
What will we do next? How can it be used in our talks
with the West? This is a truly serious matter.
So what?
Putin smirked and suggested that Kozak just stop at the recognition
of the republics’ sovereignty, and admitted that negotiations would be futile.
Feb. 21. 5:47 PM
Putin gave the floor to Dmitry Medvedev.
During his single-term presidency, Russia started a war against Georgia.
The events unfolded along these lines in 2008 and 2009.
They volunteered to restore the relations because, let’s face it,
globally, Russia means much more than Ukraine
to our friends, to the U.S., and to the E.U.
He said that more than 800,000 Donbas residents had obtained
Russian passports, and they needed to be protected.
He cited the U.S. starting “special operations” at the drop of a hat.
Medvedev was followed by Valentina Matvienko.
She was outraged by the West’s military aid packages to Ukraine.
The odds are, she was unaware of the future
de-Nazification narrative and wondered:
Does the West consider the possibility of nationalists, Banderites,
for lack of a better word, rising to power
and taking advantage of their weapons?
Will it make Europe more stable? Is it a path to peace and stability in Europe?
The meeting was broadcast as a live stream, but Prosecutor General
Igor Krasnov’s speech was edited out.
Why? We won’t find out about it anytime soon.
The surveillance camera was covered with a black bag.
Feb. 21. 6:11 PM
The floor was taken by the aforementioned Sergei Naryshkin.
He said that the idea of Russia attacking Ukraine had originated in the U.S. State Dept.
and had been whipped up to resemble war propaganda.
Naryshkin suggested that the Western partners be given another chance.
I’d agree with Mr. Patrushev’s offer to give our so-called Western partners
the last chance and ask them to tell Kyiv to sign a peace treaty
and implement the Minsk agreements.
That’s where Putin began to browbeat him.
And that’s where it seemingly dawned on everyone what they were supposed to say.
The republics’ sovereignty was supported by Defense Minister
Shoigu and the Russian Guard chief Zolotov.
We need to go further to protect our country. That’s it. Thank you.
The meeting was over.
Forbes reported the republics’ refugees’ reactions
to the would-be recognition of their sovereignty.
One woman, albeit happy, said, “It shouldn’t be the Crimea scenario.
I wish there was no war anymore.”
Feb. 21. 9:40 PM
In an hour-long televised talk, Vladimir Putin recounted
the fictitious story of Vladimir Lenin having created Ukraine and recalled NATO’s
alleged “not an inch to the east” vow given to Gorbachev.
He also did the math on the NATO missiles’ speed and compared it
with attacking the country “at knifepoint.”
He brought up the persecution of Ukrainians speaking Russian and said,
“Many people just don’t have enough money to pay
their utility bills, and they have to scrape by.”
Why was the Russian president preoccupied with lowering wages,
manufacturing woes, and a lack of independent courts in Ukraine as opposed
to the country he had been in charge of for the past two decades?
Neither Putin nor the Security Council had an answer to that.
Feb. 21. 10:34 PM
I deem it necessary to take a long-overdue decision and recognize the independence
and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic.
Putin declared the independence of the breakaway republics
and demanded that Ukraine “stop the hostilities at once.”
Otherwise, he said, “the current Ukrainian regime will be
totally responsible for the potential bloodbath.”
I am certain that this decision will be supported by
the Russian people and our country’s patriotic forces.
Feb. 22. 12:15 AM
The Kremlin released the treaties signed with the DPR and the LPR.
They didn’t mention the borders, though.
In less than two hours, the Biden administration ordered
its Ukrainian embassy staff to relocate from Lviv to Poland.
One of the officials tells the media that the Russian troops “may not
distinguish between the military and the civilian targets.”
Around the same time, the British PM Boris Johnson informed Zelenskyy
that the invasion might begin in a matter of days, if not hours.
Feb. 22. 10:30 AM
The State Duma was gearing up to ratify the treaties,
but there was no consensus on the borders.
The head of the CIS Committee proposed
the “borders the countries were comfortable with.”
Svetlana Zhurova, the deputy head of the International Affairs Committee,
agreed. According to her, “no one is looking to go further.”
But the republics’ representatives disagreed.
Rodion Miroshnik from the LPR said the borders
were the ones of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Dmitry Khoroshilov urged Ukraine to withdraw its troops
voluntarily, threatening an escalation.
Following the ratification, the media was addressed by Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.
Volodin. According to him, the treaty stopped the war
and averted a humanitarian disaster.
“Just think what could have happened, had we not recognized them.
Russia has done its utmost to save millions of lives and pre-empt
a war that would take a toll on everyone.”
It was hard to tell if he was in on the invasion plans and,
therefore, was lying or if he meant what he said.
The borders remain the biggest challenge, though.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov tried to answer the journalists’
questions, but he couldn’t and declined to comment instead.
Feb. 22. 2:59 PM
The Federation Council ratified the treaties with the DPR and the LPR.
Feb. 22. 5:35 PM
Alexander Lukashenko addressed the meeting ahead of Defender
of the Fatherland Day and brought up the possibility
of a “horrendous” inter-Slavic war.
Stop it! Swat away your transatlantic owners.
They won’t make you happy.
Once you cease to be useful to them,
they will consign you to the dumpster of history.
Lukashenko also asked the Ukrainians to use their brain and make
a prudent decision that would benefit the nations involved.
38 minutes later, Leonid Pasechnik, the LPR leader, called on every man capable of
shooting a firearm to step forward and protect the republic.
17 minutes later, Vladimir Putin sent a note on the use
of the armed forces abroad to the Federation Council.
The workday was over ahead of an upcoming day off,
but the Council resumed its session.
The president mentioned the treaties with the DPR and the LPR
and justified the deployment of the troops
to the republics by allegedly protecting peace.
Speaker Valentina Matvienko said the decision would
“prevent civilians from being shelled,” adding that the peacekeeping forces
would arrive in the republics to ratify the document.
Putin told the media that the Minsk agreements were done with.
Feb. 22. 8:30 PM
Russia’s Foreign Ministry ordered the evacuation of its embassy and consulates
from Ukraine, citing alleged threats leveled at Russian diplomats.
Joe Biden said that it was Putin’s way to justify a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
President Zelenskyy announced the call-up of reservists.
As the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian army, I have issued
a decree on the call-up of reservists for a period of emergency.
Feb. 23. 12:00 PM
Ukraine’s Security Council decides against martial law
to avoid provoking Moscow.
Feb. 23. 12:07 PM
Putin laid the flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
followed by the uniformed personnel.
The media took pictures of the president and the military guys.
After that, Putin got out of the public eye for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, in Kyiv, rumors swirled of a possible state of emergency.
Feb. 23. 5:35 PM
Newsweek reported that the Biden administration had warned Zelenskyy
of the upcoming invasion within the following 48 hours,
including an attack on Kyiv from the Belarusian border.
But it was the third warning issued over the previous month.
Feb. 23. 6:20 PM
President Zelenskyy and the country’s leadership met
with Ukraine’s major businessowners.
The meeting was addressed by the optimistic Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov
followed by the confident Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi
who reported on the troops’ readiness.
“It’ll start at 4 in the morning,” whispered the Surkis brothers.
However, the businesspeople just drove home.
Meanwhile, at 11:46 PM, TASS reported that the LPR and DPR heads
had asked Putin to help them repel Kyiv’s attacks.
Feb. 24. 12:55 AM
Sergei Lavrov picked up the phone.
Putin rarely fills the Foreign Minister in on his foreign policy plans.
But he made an exception.
Lavrov was the first official to find out about the “special military operation.”
Following the LPR and DPR call for the military aid from Russia, the Ukrainian government
called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy took the floor in what was his last pre-war address.
He made a statement in Russian.
The former comedian and host of New Year entertainment shows on Russian TV,
the Ukrainian president addressed the Russians.
Do the Russian people want a war? I’d be glad to be able to answer it.
But the answer depends on you, the citizens of Russia.
Feb. 24. 2:30 AM
But the decision was already made.
The Russian military convoys were closing on the Milove checkpoint
in the Luhansk Region.
Antony Blinken told NBC that Russia would invade Ukraine before dawn.
Feb. 24. 4:35 AM
The head of the local border patrol, Andriy Lernatovych, got a call from Zorynivka.
The village had been infiltrated by eight fully equipped saboteurs who opened fire.
Senior patrol officer Denys Tkach was killed.
His bullet-ridden body would later be located by his family.
Feb. 24. 5:00 AM
15 km away from Zorynivka, the border patrol office and the police station
in Milove were shelled with Grad rockets.
The border forces were ordered to retreat.
The Russian troops entered Milove.
800 km to the south, the Russian troops attacked
the Kalanchak border checkpoint near Crimea.
Feb. 24. 5:20 AM
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyy woke up
to a phone call from the head border patrol service.
He reported that his units were fighting in three areas in the country’s northeast.
Monastyrskyy called Zelenskyy and said, “It’s started.”
The president struggled to make sense of those words. Monastyrskyy added that
Russia was attacking them from several directions.
In five minutes, Ukraine closed its airspace.
In three minutes, Russian Tv networks began broadcasting Putin’s address.
Dear friends, I feel compelled to revisit the tragic events in the Donbas.
He cited existential threats to Russia posed by the West’s
reckless politicians who kept expanding NATO eastward.
There are plenty of examples.
They first unleashed a deadly military operation on Belgrad
that wasn’t authorized by the U.N. Security Council.
At an emergency U.N. Security Counil meeting, the U.N. Secretary-General
António Guterres pleaded with Putin to stop his troops and “give peace a chance.”
As Putin’s televised talk rolled on, he brought up
the U.S. military operations, including the war in Iraq.
He said that “the latest developments and the analysis thereof” showed
the inevitability of Russia’s clash with Ukraine and the West over Crimea.
I decided to authorize a special military operation.
It aims to protect the people that have been subjected to torture
and genocide by the Kyiv regime over the past eight years.
Feb. 24. 6:05 AM
First Lady Olena Zelenska woke up to the sound of explosions in Kyiv.
Her husband was about to leave.
Asked about what was happening, he said, “It’s started.”
The Kyiv residents were waking up to the sounds of explosions, too.
The Ukrainian officials who had access to classified information
ripped open the envelopes tagged with the word “war.”
Those had been handed over to them a few days earlier.
One MP later recalled he’d been upset to learn the memos
in the envelope had no specific guidelines.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Channel One was airing an early morning show.
The overview of orthopedic pillows was interrupted by an emergency broadcast.
The anchor said:
This is Channel One’s news bulletin.
I’m your hostess Maria Vasilyeva. Good morning!
Here’s Vladimir Putin’s address. Russia embarks on a special military operation.
Feb. 24. 6:20 AM
MP and deacon Vadym Novynskyi woke up to the explosions in Kyiv.
He called Patriarch Cyril of Russia and told him the war had just started.
The patriarch was shocked by the news.
Later that day, he’d go on to record an address that
would contradict his future pro-war rhetoric.
Missilies were striking Nova Kakhovka and Odesa.
Car alarms were wailing all over the city.
Feb. 24. 6:38 AM
The U.N. was hosting an emergency Security Council meeting.
Russia presided over the Council. Vasily Nebenzya chaired the meeting.
He was citing the causes of the “special operation,” and said
it had been prompted by the “actions of the Ukrainian regime.”
A whole hour later, Nebenzya gave the floor to
Sergiy Kyslytsya, the permanent representative of Ukraine.
He said that the Russian president had declared war on Ukraine,
and asked Nebenzya to call Lavrov.
Kyslytsya called for whatever it took to stop the war.
Meanwhile, Russian missiles struck the city of Dnipro.
Nebenzya asked Kyslytsya to refrain from using the word “war.”
He insisted on calling it a special military operation.
Kyslytsya once again asked him to call Putin and Lavrov to stop
the invasion, called them war criminals, and ripped off his mic.
In conclusion, I’d like to say our aggression isn’t directed at the Ukrainian people,
but against the junta that has usurped the power in Kyiv.
Feb. 24. 7:00 AM
Russian missiles strike the town of Schastia, Luhansk Region.
Five minutes later, the Russian troops entered Ukraine using the Belarusian
border checkpoint, Three Sisters, near the memorial celebrating
the friendship of Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians.
Feb. 24. 7:15 AM
The city of Kharkiv, 30 km away from the Russian border, was being rocked
by multiple explosions caused by the Russian missiles.
The city used to be a popular destination for Belgorod residents
and was a short train ride away.
Now, the Belgorodians could witness the explosions with a naked eye.
More than a year into the “operation,” they would be
on the receiving end of the explosions.
Feb. 24. 7:30 AM
The Russian troops entered Ukraine from Crimea.
Former Kherson governor Andriy Gordeyev was irate
over the isthmus having been de-mined one week earlier.
Feb. 24. 7:41 AM
Almost 8 in the morning.
The invasion had been several hours on. Russia’s Defense Ministry released
its first statement claiming that Ukrainian civilians wouldn’t be affected.
They said they were disabling military assets, air defense systems, military airfields,
and Ukrainian military jets using guided missiles.
Meanwhile, Kyiv was being ravaged by explosions,
and Zelenskyy recorded a video saying he’d declared martial law
and that the army and the security and
defense agencies were busy doing their job.
Don’t panic! We’re strong. We’re prepared.
We’re going to win. We are Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!
Feb. 24. 8:57 AM
Western Ukraine was swept by air raid sirens.
People were asked to turn off the lights, shut down gas pipes,
put out the fire in their ovens, and stay home.
Kharkiv residents began using the subway system as a shelter.
People were packing up survival kits to be able
to make a dash for the nearest basement.
The Ukrainians reported that the Ivano-Frankivsk and Chornobaivka air fields
were ablaze, as was a five-story residential block in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Region.
Russian helicopters entered Ukrainian airspace all over the place.
Feb. 24. 9:56 AM
In an interview with Channel One, military analyst Vyacheslav Shurygin
called the Ukraine strikes “humane.”
What’s the point in this large-scale campaign?
Odd and cynical as that may sound, it’s humane.
It pre-empts a potential massacre. It disables their
military assets, thus saving lives.
A pro-Russian Verkhovna Rada MP said it wasn’t a war,
but a liberation effort, and demanded that Zelenskyy step down.
It’s not a war. It’s a liberation effort, I think.
Feb. 24. 10:27 AM
The death toll was rising.
Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief at RT, mocked the events
in a tweet reading, “It’s a dress rehearsal of a victory parade.
This year, it’s been decided that Kyiv will be hosting it.”
Feb. 24. 11:00 AM
Part of the air defense system had been disabled
near the Mariupol airport, not far from the border.
The military base was on fire, with ammunition exploding.
The residents began leaving the city.
Feb. 24. 11:30 AM
A missile struck an industrial facility in Odesa, with no casualties.
In Vuhledar, though, things were different.
According to Human Rights Watch, a cluster munition
hit a hospital, killing at least two civilians.
Feb. 24. 12:00 PM
At noon, a fierce combat using firearms was in full swing on the outskirts of Kharkiv.
Kherson residents were fleeing their homes. An explosion killed a child.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that firearms would be
handed out among the civilians ready to fight.
Feb. 24. 12:35 PM
After letting the Russian troops use Belarus to break into Ukraine,
Alexander Lukashenko offered Minsk as a venue for peace talks.
He said Russia would negotiate if specific solutions were put forward.
Those solutions would be “harder on Ukraine,”
as the “winners will dictate their terms.”
But the fight seemed too early to call.
Feb. 24. 1:16 PM
It was too early to tell if the “special operation” was going according to the plan,
but, to be on the safe side, Russia’s media supervision
state agency introduced wartime censorship.
The media was instructed to only rely on the information from the official sources.
Otherwise, they’d be fined 5M rubles and the piece would be blocked.
Feb. 24. 1:30 PM
The Russian military hoisted Russia’s flag over the Kakhovka power plant.
In Hostomel, the Ukrainian army was thwarting the Russian landings,
forcing the helicopters to fight back mid-air.
One of the choppers ended up killed by Igla, a man-portable SAM system.
Feb. 24. 4:00 PM
Russian businessowners met with Putin.
One of them asked Lavrov how the president had managed
to plan everything so that no one effectively knew nothing.
Lavrov said, “He has three advisers: Ivan the Terrible,
Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great.”
It’s now glaringly obvious he wasn’t even joking.
Feb. 24. 4:20 PM
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
said it wasn’t the start but the end to the war.
We aspire to pre-empt the global events that could lead to a global war.
Meanwhile, in Kherson and Mariupol, both the military
and the civilian death tolls were mounting.
Donetsk was under fire as well.
Feb. 24. 4:50 PM
The Russian soldiers encountered a CNN reporter in Hostomel
and told him they were now controlling the town.
Feb. 24. 5:05 PM
The Russians that opposed the “special operation” began posting black squares
to their social media pages, captioned with “Stop the War!”
Some dared to take to the streets, but the police
were quick to start detaining the protesters.
Unorganized rallies swept the country into the night hours.
The next morning, the official count of those arrested was north of 3,000.
Those who refrained from streets protests were buried in their news feeds.
Doomscrollin became a thing.
Valentina Matvienko berated the opponents of the war as egotistic individuals.
Like, they were only preoccupied with their minor grievances
as opposed to the sovereignty of “such a large and globally important country
and its oil and gas fields” being under threat. She added:
Under the circumstances, there’s, unfortunately,
no other way to protect Russia’s security.
Feb. 24. 5:20 PM
The combat action was ramping up.
Okhtyrka, Sumy Region, was the venue of heavy firearms combat.
A local resident said they were firing at people’s windows.
Bullet-ridden and blood-stained cars were sitting on the roads.
Residential buildings were on fire.
The Russian tanks were using the Antonivka Road Bridge
to access the west bank of the Dnipro and Kherson suburbs.
Feb. 24. 5:30 PM
Henichesk county of the Kherson Region became Russian-controlled.
At Sumy, several Russian tanks were hit and engulfed in flames.
The rest were rolling into the city.
Feb. 24. 6:30 PM
Zelenskyy called Emmanuel Macron and reported heavy fighting all over Ukraine.
Macron realized it was a full-scale war.
He was befuddled.
Zelenskyy asked Macron to call Putin and proposed creating
an anti-war coalition with the other E.U. countries and the U.S.
Zelenskyy was certain that if Western leaders told Putin to stop, he would.
Meanwhile, Ukraine was getting inundated with Russian combat vehicles
carrying the letters Z and V. Initially a tactical marking,
Feb. 24. 6:34 PM
The Russian military broke into the Chernobyl NPP.
Feb. 24. 6:38 PM
Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the media, clad in a khaki T-shirt.
He announced the largest-ever sanctions package.
And that was just the beginning.
Feb. 24. 7:25 PM
To halt the Russian advance, the Ukrainian military
blew up a dam in the Kharkiv Region.
In northeastern Kharkiv, explosions rocked the walls of residential blocks.
Feb. 24. 10:09 PM
To somehow slow down the Russian offensive,
the Ukrainian military blew up the bridge over the Oskil river.
At dusk, fighting intensified in Sumy.
Gunfire engulfed a residential neighborhood.
At that point, in Kyiv, civilians had gotten hold of 10,000 machine guns.
Feb. 24. 11:25 PM
It took several hours for Russia to disable Ukrainian military infrastructure,
air defense systems, military air fields, and fighter jets.
There are no strikes at the cities and civilian targets.
The Russian propagandists recapped day one of the war they called a “special operation.
Simonyan who had been tweeting from her iPhone all day long
wrote she would “live without going to Paris”
just as easily as she “lived without an iPhone.”
If the country ends up isolated, it’s no big deal, either.
It’ll be a big deal whose hearts have been crushed by their kitchen pantries.
Day 2
Hundreds of people were spending the night on the Kyiv and Kharkiv subway.
Some brought in food essentials and water supplies.
Others got blankets and pillows.
Those who got out of their phones and fell asleep to the unending blasts
used either their backpacks or their neighbors as pillows.
Feb. 25. 1:02 AM
Glory to the Ukrainian army!
Guys and girls, our defenders, you’re doing an awesome job protecting Ukraine
from one of the world’s most powerful countries.
Zelenskyy started a full-scale conscription drive.
Later, he said the Ukrainian border patrol personnel on Snake Island
who had declined to surrender to the Russian warship
and told them to “go f___ yourselves” were killed.
On Snake Island, our border patrol guys put up
a heroic defense and were killed as heroes.
Several months later, the Ukrainian army would regain control over the island
in what was one of the most notable momentum-swinging events of the war.
The border patrol personnel would turn out to be POWs.
Feb. 25. 5:20 AM
Air defense systems were working around the clock in Kyiv.
Local residents were witnessing numerous flashes from their homes.
One resident in eastern Kyiv captured a plane that exploded.
The debris came crashing onto a residential block, starting a fire.
Feb. 25. 10:00 AM
Russian TV was trying to convince the Ukrainians to sit it all out.
If you’re afraid, find a basement, take shelter, and sit it out until it’s over.
Don’t prevent Russia from helping you.
But watching Russian TV was the last thing on their minds.
People were fleeing their homes en masse and leaving the war-torn country.
The first Ukrainian refugees arrived in Przemyśl, Poland.
In eastern Ukraine, the battle of Mariupol got underway.
Those who chose to stay sheltered in the basements.
It was only day two of this war.
Today, it’s day 730. Two years ago to the day, Russia started
the so-called “special operation,” a full-scale war on Ukraine.