Ukraine war reaches 100 days

"In accordance with Article 51 of Part 7 of the UN Charter, with the sanction of the Council of the Russian Federation and in compliance with the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance ratified by the Federal Assembly on 22 February this year with the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic, I have decided to carry out a special military operation." With these words by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow launched its large-scale attack on Ukraine in the early hours of 24 February. 

The worst predictions of Western intelligence services came true. After months of warning of a possible invasion of Ukraine due to the high number of Russian troops on the border, Moscow launched its incursion in the middle of the night by air, land and sea. 

The Kremlin gave the order to storm Ukrainian territory with the aim of "demilitarising and denazifying" the country, as well as protecting the citizens of the Donbas, a region in the east controlled by pro-Russian separatists, from alleged genocide by the Kiev authorities.

100 days after the beginning of the invasion, the idea of a ceasefire seems increasingly distant. After three months, the picture in Ukraine is bleak: cities reduced to rubble, internally displaced persons, thousands of dead, wounded and disappeared. Another major challenge after a hundred days of fighting and resistance is the need to maintain motivation and morale among Ukrainian forces.

On 28 February Russia and Ukraine began initial negotiations aimed at ending the invasion. However, Moscow's demands removed any hope of peace. Russian authorities urged Kiev to recognise the Crimean peninsula - annexed by Putin in 2014 - as Russian territory. They also called on Volodimir Zelensky's government to renounce its desire to join NATO. 

The first talks did not lay the groundwork for a peaceful solution, although it was agreed to maintain the dialogue. Kiev and Moscow met again in early March to establish humanitarian corridors. On several occasions, however, Ukraine accused Russian troops of not respecting these areas that allow for the safe evacuation of citizens.

Meetings between the Russian and Ukrainian authorities took place in Moscow's ally Belarus and in the Turkish cities of Antalya and Istanbul, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented himself as a mediator between the two countries.

While negotiations were underway in early March, Russia also made its first major conquest: the southern Black Sea city of Kherson. Following the seizure of this town, Moscow intensified its efforts in the region, focusing in particular on the port city of Mariupol.

Mariupol is undoubtedly one of the places in the country that best reflects the horror of the war and the Russian attacks. According to the Ukrainian authorities, more than 20,000 people have been killed and 90% of the infrastructure has been destroyed. The images of the shelling of the maternity and children's hospital, as well as the attack on the theatre where the word "children" was written in Russian, have travelled around the world, showing the suffering of the Ukrainian people and the brutality of the Russian troops.

At the end of March, a month after the invasion began, Moscow claimed that it had "successfully completed the first stage of the operation in Ukraine" and would now focus on "the liberation of the Donbas". As Russian troops retreated south and east, Ukrainian forces recaptured towns near Kiev.

Re-establishing control over the area around the capital in early April led to the discovery of real barbarities committed by Russian troops against the Ukrainian civilian population. Lifeless bodies bound in manacles, burnt corpses, evidence of sexual assaults on women and girls. Bucha has become one of the most brutal scenes in Ukraine during the Russian invasion, although the authorities warned that "there were more Buchas" in the territories occupied by Russian troops. 

In early April, Russia was again accused of war crimes, this time for shelling the Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine. The attack killed at least 50 people. Many of them had intended to leave the area and join the thousands of citizens who crossed the border to flee the horror of war. 

In mid-April Russia suffered a major blow. The Defence Ministry confirmed the sinking of the Moskva in the Black Sea. According to Moscow, the ship sank 'due to hull damage caused by a fire caused by detonating ammunition' as it was being transferred to port in a storm.

However, Ukrainian forces said the ship was hit by a Neptune anti-ship missile, a weapon designed after Russia's annexation of Crimea. The Moskva is the second large ship Russia has lost since the start of its invasion of Ukraine. In March, another Russian ship was destroyed by a Ukrainian attack off the port of Berdyansk in the Sea of Azov.

The surrender of the last of Azovstal - the steel plant that for weeks was the last bastion of resistance in Mariupol - ended the most brutal siege of the Ukrainian war. For months, thousands of soldiers and civilians resisted the Russian offensive in the basements of the port city's steelworks.

Ukraine's plea to "save Azovstal" was brought to the Eurovision stage by Kalush Orchestra, winners of the competition with their song dedicated to Ukrainian mothers. 

Finally, after weeks without food and medicine, thousands of Ukrainian fighters chose to surrender to Russian troops, following the orders of President Zelensky, who said that "Ukraine needs its heroes alive".

On the other hand, the conquest of Azovstal is an important victory for Russia. After gaining control of the coastal town of Mariupol, Moscow has strengthened its grip on the land corridor from Crimea to the Donbas, the region where it is now focusing its efforts. In recent days, the Russian army has confirmed the conquest of Lyman in Donetsk oblast and Severodonetsk in Lugansk. 

Ukraine, for its part, has made significant gains in Kherson and Kharkov. At the same time, the Ukrainian judiciary has already begun trials of Russian soldiers accused of war crimes. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, is the first Russian serviceman to be tried in Ukraine. Shishimarin, who pleaded guilty to the murder of an unarmed civilian, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Kiev court. 

The war in Ukraine has had a global impact. First, Putin has found Europe stronger and more united than ever. Recently, the EU-27 agreed to a partial embargo on Russian oil, as well as a sixth package of sanctions against Russia. 

NATO has also been strengthened. Countries such as Sweden and Finland have even stepped forward and applied to join the alliance, leaving behind their defensive neutrality and disregarding Moscow's threats. 

However, the war has also triggered a new refugee crisis on the continent and threatens a major global food crisis.