Tuesday’s Russian missile strike on a military academy and nearby hospital in eastern Ukraine, which killed more than 50 people, underscored the unrelenting dangers that Ukrainians have faced since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Two ballistic missiles hit the city of Poltava and rescue efforts were still underway, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said.
At least 11,520 civilians have been killed in the war between February 2022 to July 2024, according to a United Nations report, which added that the actual tally may be even higher. The number of military troops killed is harder to pin down. U.S. officials said in August that nearly 500,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded on both sides, though they cautioned that Moscow likely undercounts its casualties, and Kyiv does not disclose official figures.
Here is a timeline of some of the war’s deadliest days.
2024
Jan. 21, 2024: Artillery shells hit a market in Russian-occupied Donetsk, killing at least 25 people, pro-Moscow officials said in blaming Ukraine for the strike. Ukraine denied responsibility.
Jan. 24, 2024: A Russian military plane crashed near the border with Ukraine, killing 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, Russian officials said. They accused Ukraine of striking the aircraft with missiles. Russia’s claims could not be independently verified.
July 8, 2024: A Russian missile destroyed Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, in Kyiv, part of a barrage of bombings across the country that killed at least 38 people.
2023
Jan. 15, 2023: A Russian missile with a 2,000-pound warhead obliterated an apartment complex in Dnipro, killing 46 people, including six children.
Oct. 5, 2023: More than 50 people were killed in a strike in Hroza, a small Ukrainian village with no obvious military ties. Ukrainian officials blamed a Russian Iskander missile.
Nov. 3, 2023: A Russian missile struck a medal ceremony for artillery troops in the Zaporizhzhia region, killing 19 soldiers.
2022
March 13, 2022: Russian missiles hit a military base in Yavoriv, near the Polish border. The strike killed at least 35 people and injured at least 134 more, according to Ukrainian officials. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it killed 180 foreign fighters in the attack. The New York Times could not independently verify either claim.
March 16, 2022: A Russian airstrike hit a theater in Mariupol with the word “children” written in large white lettering outside to signal that the building was sheltering civilians. Estimates about the death toll vary. Amnesty International, a British-based nonprofit, reported at least 12 people were killed but survivors told a reporter from The Times that between 60 and 200 people were killed.
April 8, 2022: Russian shelling killed more than 50 civilians at a train station in Kramatorsk, in Donetsk Province. This attack marked the start of Russia’s campaign to seize the Donbas region.
April 13, 2022: Ukrainian forces, aided by U.S. intelligence, fired two missiles, striking the Moskva, a Russian warship. The attack ignited a fire that led to the sinking of the warship the next day. Independent Russian news outlets based outside the country reported that about 40 men died when the warship was damaged and sank.
May 17, 2022: Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 87 people were killed in a Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region.
July 9, 2022: An apartment complex in Chasiv Yar, a small city in Donetsk Province, was hit by a Russian strike, killing at least 43 people, according to local emergency services.
Sept. 30, 2022: Russian missiles struck a convoy of vehicles transporting people fleeing fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, killing at least 30 people and wounding 88 others, local Ukrainian officials reported.
Read More: A Timeline of Some of the Deadliest Attacks in Ukraine’s War With Russia
