On March 2, 2022, Russian forces escalated their invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24, with significant military actions across multiple fronts. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with 1.4 million residents, Russian paratroopers landed, sparking street clashes, as reported by Ukrainian forces.
The city faced “mass shelling and bombing,” with emergency services confirming four deaths on March 2 and 21 killed with 112 injured over the previous 24 hours, per Kharkiv regional head Oleg Sinehubov.
A missile strike destroyed the regional police department and a university building, with comparisons drawn to the Sarajevo massacres of the 1990s.
In Kherson, a strategic port city of 290,000, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed “full control” on March 1, though Ukrainian officials, including Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev, insisted, “We are still Ukraine. Still firm,” despite Russian occupation of key infrastructure like the railway station and port.
Babi Yar and War Crimes
A Russian missile strike on March 1 targeted Kyiv’s television mast, killing five and damaging the nearby Babi Yar Holocaust memorial, where over 33,000 Jews were massacred by Nazis in 1941.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Jewish Ukrainian, condemned the attack as a “threat to Ukrainian identity,” urging global Jewry to “shout about killings of civilians” and decrying the world’s silence 80 years after “Never again.” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid offered to repair the damaged Jewish cemetery at Babi Yar.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) launched a war crimes investigation into Russia’s actions, including civilian deaths, with Ukraine reporting 352 civilian fatalities, including 14 children, by March 2. The UN recorded 18,955 civilian casualties since the invasion, citing Russia’s “indiscriminate use of artillery.”
Ukrainian Resistance and Strategic Setbacks
Ukrainian forces mounted fierce resistance, preventing Russia from capturing major cities like Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol. In Kharkiv, adviser Oleksiy Arestovich called it “the Stalingrad of the 21st century,” noting downed Russian planes.
In Kherson, territorial defense units fought Russian paratroopers and infantry, but the city fell on March 1 after Russian forces crossed the Antonivka Road Bridge and seized key points, aided by alleged Ukrainian security force infiltrators, per Chatham House.
Russian troops linked with Donbas separatists along the Azov Sea, encircling Mariupol, where over 14,000 had died since 2014.
Kyiv faced a 65-km Russian convoy, with Mayor Vitali Klitschko vowing, “Kyiv is holding and will hold.”
Strikes also hit Konstantinovka, Bordodyanka, and Zhytomyr, with Ukraine claiming 4,300 Russian troop deaths, though unverified.
Global Response and Sanctions
Western sanctions devastated Russia’s economy, with the ruble collapsing 30% and the Moscow Stock Exchange closed for a third day. Crude oil surged past $110 per barrel, aluminum hit record highs, and equities sank globally.
The EU banned Russian state media RT and Sputnik and excluded seven banks from SWIFT, sparing Sberbank and Gazprombank for energy payments.
Sberbank exited Europe, while companies like Apple, Boeing, Disney, ExxonMobil, Mastercard, and DHL halted operations in Russia and Belarus.
U.S. President Joe Biden, in his March 1 State of the Union address, promised “robust action” targeting Russia’s economy and oligarchs, closing U.S. airspace to Russian flights.
The UN General Assembly voted 141-5 to condemn Russia’s invasion, demanding withdrawal.
Humanitarian Crisis and Diplomacy
The UN reported 836,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine, including African and Middle Eastern students facing discrimination at the Poland border.
Svitlana Mostepanenko, a Ukrainian refugee in Prague, lamented, “They’re bombing even houses where there are kids.”
Ukraine’s EU membership bid, pushed by Zelenskyy, was dampened by EU officials citing a years-long process, despite Eastern European support.
Talks in Belarus on February 28 yielded no ceasefire, with Russia demanding “denazification” and Ukrainian neutrality.
Russian opposition grew, with 6,000 detained for anti-war protests, and Alexei Navalny urging daily demonstrations, stating, “Everything has a price and now, in the spring of 2022, we should pay that price.”
Broader Context
The invasion coincided with global crises, including the UNEA-5’s focus on plastic pollution in Nairobi and Myanmar’s refugee crisis, with 20,000 Chin fleeing to India. Russia’s nuclear alert and Belarus’ constitutional shift to host nuclear weapons heightened fears, with EU’s Josep Borrell calling it “very dangerous.”
Ukraine’s resistance, bolstered by Western arms like Javelin missiles and Turkish drones, slowed Russia’s advance, but the civilian toll and infrastructure damage raised fears of a prolonged conflict. Posts on X in 2022 amplified Zelenskyy’s calls for solidarity, with outrage over Babi Yar and civilian deaths.
