Kyiv, founded in the 6-7th centuries, is one of Europe’s oldest cities and the centre of the first East Slavic state, Kyivan Rus. It became the spiritual centre of Rus in 988 CE. The current population is 3 million. Ukraine gained independence in 1991 after the Soviet Union’s collapse.
24 February 2022, Russia began an unprovoked full-scale invasion in Ukraine
In 2014, Russia breached its commitment to Ukrainian sovereignty by annexing Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, Russia started an unprovoked full-scale invasion, advancing from Crimea in the South, Belarus in the North, and previously occupied territories from the East.
Cities and villages destroyed
Dozens of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages were struck by artillery, tanks, and bombings from Russian military aviation and targeted by ballistic missiles launched from sea, land, and air. Such a scale of destruction has not been witnessed in Europe since the end of World War II in 1945.
ODESA, UKRAINE, July 23, 2023. Church personnel inspect damages inside the Odesa Transfiguration Cathedral, following Russian missile attacks. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) 
KHARKIV, UKRAINE, March 02, 2023: The scars of war in Ukraine. Destroyed apartment building. Aftermath of a rocket attack, capturing the devastating impact of war in North Saltivka, Kharkiv. 
BORODYANKA, UKRAINE, Apr 06, 2022: War in Ukraine. Chaos and devastation on the streets of Borodyanka as a result of the attack of Russian invaders 
ZAHALTSI village in KYIV region, UKRAINE, June 2022, a destroyed tank after Russian attacks (Photo/ Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) 
KHERSON region, UKRAINE, June 2023, After the occupation, (Photo/ Ivleva) 
BORODYANKA, UKRAINE, Apr 2022, (Photo/ Sova)
Millions displaced
There are nearly 5.1 million internally displaced people in Ukraine (as of May 2023). Approximately 17.6 million people needed humanitarian assistance in 2022-23.
Ukrainians crowded under a destroyed bridge as they tried to flee across the Irpin River in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) 
KYIV, UKRAINE, Feb 24, 2022, people take shelter in a subway station during ongoing military operations in Kyiv (© UNICEF/ Vyacheslav Ratynskiy/ UNIAN) 
IRPIN, UKRAINE, March 7, 2022: Residents of Irpin flee heavy fighting via a destroyed bridge as Russian forces entered the city in Irpin, Ukraine. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) 
People crowd a train-station platform, trying to flee the city after Russia announced a temporary cease-fire in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 7, 2022 (Photo/ Emin Sansar, Anadolu Agency/ Getty Images) 
People with bags and suitcases on the metro in Kyiv after air-raid sirens sounded off, Feb 2022 (Photo/ YURIY DYACHYSHYN: AFP via Getty Images) 
Refugees from Ukraine on the border with Slovakia.
Hundreds of thousands are killed or injured
Confirmed as of December 2023: 9,634 civilians have lost their lives, among them over 1,700 children, while 17,665 individuals have been injured. The number of people killed on occupied territories remains undisclosed by Russia.
MARIUPOL, UKRAINE, March 1, 2022: Ambulance paramedics move an injured man on a stretcher, wounded by shelling in a residential area, at a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward and used as a bomb shelter (AP Photo/ Evgeniy Maloletka) 
BUCHA, in Kyiv region, UKRAINE, April 2, 2022: Soldiers walk past a destroyed Russian tank and armoured vehicles, amid Russia’s invasion on Ukraine (Photo: REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra) 
VINNYTSIA, UKRAINE, July 17, 2022: Relatives and friends attend the funeral ceremony for Liza, 4-year-old girl killed by Russian attack. Liza was among 23 people killed, including two boys aged 7 and 8, in missile strike in Vinnytsia. Her mother, Iryna Dmytrieva, was among the scores injured. (AP Photo/ Efrem Lukatsky) 
NOVOSOLONE, UKRAINE, Nov 24, 2022: Funeral for newborn killed in Russian missile attack on Vilnyansk hospital. Maria Kamianetska, 36, mourns with family, kissing baby Serhii Podlianov in coffin. Maria Kamianetska, sole survivor from ward, rescued with two doctors from rubble. (Photo/ Heidi Levine/The Washington Post). 
BUCHA, UKRAINE, April 2022: Bucha terror, body bags lay on the grass of a cemetery. (Photo/ Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times) 
UKRAINE, 2023 (Photo/ Ivleva) 
KYIV, UKRAINE, 2023, Cemetery panorama. Graves of soldiers with Ukrainian flags (Photo by Marinka)
Russian military commit war crimes daily
A Russian missile hit the railway station in Kramatorsk with thousands of people awaiting evacuation. It killed 63 civilians (including 9 children) and wounded 150 (including 34 children). Every day, the Russian Military launches missiles and drops bombs and shells indiscriminately on the civilian population, cynically declaring that they were military targets.
Mariana Vishegirskaya stands outside a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Vishegirskaya survived the shelling and later gave birth to a girl in another hospital in Mariupol. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov) 
Rescuers work at a site of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi 
Tanya Nedashkivs’ka, 57, mourns the death of her husband who was killed in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 4, 2022. Russia is facing a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) 
IRPIN, UKRAINE, April 2022, suffered huge civilian casualties after weeks under Russian occupation, with horrific accounts of deliberate killings of civilians carried out by Putin’s men (pictured, newly-dug graves on the outskirts of the city). BORODYANKA, UKRAINE, Apr 06, 2022: War in Ukraine. Chaos and devastation on the streets of Borodyanka as a result of the attack of Russian invaders
Ukrainian mеn and women fight for freedom every day, and the cost is high
Russia aimed to take Kyiv within days, starting its brutal invasion. Two long years on, Ukrainian men and women continue defending their country, freedom, and the right to independence and democracy, but tens of thousands of them have already lost their lives.
The Ukrainian troops have developed extensive fortifications and dug in across the east of the country (Photo: Diego Herrera Carcedo /Anadolu Agency/ Getty images) 
Ukrainian soldiers ride an APC in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/LIBKOS) 
KHERSON region, UKRAINE, Jan. 9, 2023: Ukrainian soldiers fire at Russian positions from a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer (AP Photo/Libkos, File) 
Ukrainian servicemen prepare a D-30 howitzer for fire near a frontline in Mykolaiv region, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine August 13, 2022. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak 
Ukrainian servicemen gather around a BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle on a road outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine February 11, 2023. REUTERS/Yevhenii Zavhorodnii TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 
Ukrainian service members of the 55th Separate Artillery Brigade fire a Caesar self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the town of Avdiivka in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi 
LVIV, UKRAINE, March 24, 2022: Ukrainian female soldiers are seen before heading to the frontline as Ukrainian displaced civilians continue to swarm around the train station to flee due to ongoing Russian attacks, in Lviv, Ukraine (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) 
Two national guard soldiers drink a shot to honor the memory of two late soldiers in Kharkiv cemetery, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, May 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) 
Ukrainian soldiers walk next to destroyed Russian tanks and armoured vehicles, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis BUCHA, in Kyiv region, UKRAINE, April 2, 2022: Soldiers walk past a destroyed Russian tank and armoured vehicles, amid Russia’s invasion on Ukraine (Photo: REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra)
Australia, stand with Ukraine in a fight against evil!
Ukraine is not a match to Russia regarding resources to win the war. If the countries of the Free World do not help each other, no free world will be left.
Antiwar protests in Russia
More than 20,000 people had been arrested during anti-war protests in Russia. Over 1400 people have been prosecuted and jailed for 4 to 19 years, including 22 journalists.
RUSSIA, St. Petersburg, Feb 24, 2022. People attend an anti-war protest, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in Ukraine, REUTERS/Anton Vaganov 
RUSSIA, Moscow, Feb 24 2022. Protests against the war in Ukraine. 
RUSSIA, St. Petersburg, Feb 24, 2022. A demonstrator displays a sign during an anti-war protest. The sign reads: “No to war in Ukraine! Return the forces home!” (Photo/Anton Vaganov / Reuters) 
RUSSIA, Moscow, Feb 24, 2022. Police officers detain demonstrators after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Hundreds of people gathered in the center of Moscow, protesting against Russia’s attack on Ukraine. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov) 
RUSSIA, Feb 24, 2022. Over 13,000 people in 53 cities across Russia (from 24.02.22 to 06.03.22) have been detained by police for protesting against the invasion of Ukraine 
Alexey Gorinov, Russian lawyer, human rights activist and politician, convicted of publicly speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. July 8, 2022 sentenced to 7 years in prison 
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition activist, was jailed in April 2022 for criticizing the Kremlin’s Ukraine offensive. He faces charges of high treason, which could result in a two-decade prison sentence. (Photo/ NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/ AFP via Getty Images) 
Alsou Kurmasheva, Russian journalist, arrested Oct 8, 2023 for publishing materials about the aggression of the Russian army in Ukraine 
Ilya Yashin, Russian political and public figure, political prisoner, sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for his anti-war position 
Artem Kamardin, Russian poet, sentenced to 7 years in prison for anti-war poems 
Sasha Skochilenko, Russian artist, performed an individual anti-war action, replacing price tags in the store with stickers telling about the events in Ukraine. Sentenced to 7 years in prison 
Evgenia Berkovich, Russian poet and producer, and Svetlana Petriychuk, Russian playwright, were arrested 2 Nov 2023 for staging the play “Finist Yasny Falcon,” which tells how militants recruit women on the Internet.
Act NOW
Vladimir Putin is bringing World War III upon us. There will be no spectators.