Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jul 03, 2022, 4:26 PM EDT
Ukrainian troops retreat from Lysychansk
Ukrainian troops have retreated from the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk in order to save the lives of soldiers, Ukrainian military officials said Sunday.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces confirmed that Ukrainian troops have left Lysychansk after weeks of heavy fighting.
A Russian Su-25 ground attack jet fires rockets on a mission at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, July 2, 2022.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Ukrainian military officials said a combination of Russian artillery superiority, the prowess of Russian military aviation and its rocket salvo systems proved too much for Ukranian troops.
"This was done to save the lives of the soldiers," the general staff said in a statement, adding that the continuation of the defense of the city "would lead to fatal consequences."
Russian forces now effectively control Luhansk Oblast, bringing them a step closer to seizing Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Jul 03, 2022, 4:24 PM EDT
Russia claims total control of Lisichansk in eastern Ukraine
The city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine is purportedly under total control of Russian forces and the Kremlin-backed Luhansk People's Militia, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Sunday.
Russian Army Gen. Sergei Shoigu said in a statement that Lysychansk and a number of settlements in the Luhansk oblast, or province, of the Dobas region -- including the largest settlements of Belogorovka, Novodruzhesk, Maloryazantsevo and Belaya -- are under control of Russia after weeks of heavy fighting.
Shoigu said that over the past day, Russia and the Luhansk People's Militia have taken control of more than 70 square miles of the Luhansk province.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukraine has not confirmed that the Russian's have seized Lysychansk.
"We cannot definitively say that Lysychansk is under the control of the Russian Federation" Zelensky said in a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday.
However, Zelensky acknowledge that battle for Lysychansk and other areas of the Luhansk region has been tough for Ukrainian forces.
"It's really the most difficult situation, the most dangerous, and we don't have an advantage there, and it's true, it's our weak spot," Zelenskyy said.
Jul 01, 2022, 4:25 PM EDT
21 dead, 39 injured in missile strike near Odesa
Russian missiles struck residential areas near the key port city of Odesa in southern Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 21 people and wounding 39 others, Ukrainian authorities said.
Rescuers evacuate a body from a building destroyed by a missile strike in the Ukrainian town of Sergiyvka, near Odessa, killing at least 18 people and injuring 30, on July 1, 2022. Overnight, two missiles were fired by a "strategic aircraft" from the Black Sea, hitting buildings, according to the Ukrainian emergency services.
Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images
A view of a destroyed building after it was hit by a missile strike in the Ukrainian town of Sergiyvka , near Odessa, killing at least 20 people and injuring 38.
Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images
Russian bombers fired a trio of X-22 missiles that hit a nine-story apartment building and two recreational areas in the small coastal town of Serhiivka, located about 31 miles southwest of Odesa, according to a statement from the Security Service of Ukraine, which noted that rescue operations were underway.
Many victims were in the apartment building, where the entire entrance was "completely destroyed," authorities said.
A residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike is seen in the small coastal town of Serhiivka, near the port city of Odesa, southern Ukraine, on July 1, 2022.
Iryna Nazarchuk/Reuters
One of the wounded children was a baby who was in a coma after being pulled from the charred rubble, according to authorities.
"This was a targeted Russian missile attack -- Russian terror against our cities, villages, our people," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The pre-dawn attacks followed the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine's Snake Island on Thursday, a move that was expected to potentially ease the threat to nearby Odesa, home to Ukraine's biggest seaport and one of the largest ports in the Black Sea basin.
"Occupants can't win on the battlefield, so resort to the vile murder of civilians," Ivan Bakanov, chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine, said in a statement Friday. "After the enemy was kicked out of Snake Island, he decided to respond with a cynical shelling of civilian objects."
Jul 01, 2022, 12:50 PM EDT
Ukraine submits memo to International Court of Justice on Russian aggression
Ukraine on Friday submitted a memorandum to the International Court of Justice on Russian aggression.
"We prove that Russia violated the Genocide Convention by justifying its aggression with a false pretext of a 'genocide' that never was," tweeted Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
