With this material, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers begins a series of materials devoted to the key events of the Russian war against Ukraine, where we will publish memoirs and photos of Ukrainian documentary photographers.
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The main events of this day were missile strikes on the cities of Ukraine, the breakthrough of Russian troops on the foothills, south and east.
03:30 — 03:59: the first Russian sabotage and intelligence groups are trying to enter the territory of Ukraine. The regular outfits of the State Border Guard Service enter into battle with them. Regular units of the Russian armed forces follow the DRG, active fighting is taking place in the area of the village of Zorinovka in the Luhansk region, as well as at the checkpoint “Kalanchak” - the administrative border with the temporarily occupied Crimea.
4:50 a.m.: Russian dictator Vladimir Putin issued an appeal to the Russians with a statement about the start of a “special military operation in Ukraine”.
Photographer Yevhen Maloletka together with a colleague Mstislav ChernovEncountered the war in Mariupol. He recalls that they arrived in the city an hour before a full-scale war. The road from Bakhmut to Mariupol took almost the whole night.
“We drove and there was complete silence, although the day before, mortars were fired and the artillery responded. We saw that the troops had already taken up fighting positions. We understood that if there is silence, there will be a new wave. So everyone was waiting,” he recalls.
05:00: in the morning, Russian troops attack Ukraine along the entire border line - in Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions, from the side of the temporarily occupied Crimea, in the Donbas, and also enter Kiev and Kiev region from the side of Belarus. Missile strikes were carried out on Kharkiv, Odessa, Kiev, Zhytomyr, Brovary, Kherson, Nikolaev, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, more than 150 missiles were launched.
7:40am:Russian invaders are going to break through the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Guard of Chernobyl nuclear power plant enters battle with Russian terrorists.
Photographer Andriy Dubchakmet the war on February 24 at the Mir Hotel in Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region. He recalls waking up from a phone call from his wife Lisa, who reported the beginning of the war.
“To be honest, I took this news a little too calmly. I knew there was going to be an invasion. I knew that activation was inevitable. Because even at that moment, the front had already changed and the “OOSU” that I knew no longer existed. During the week before the invasion, he was attacked twice, the activity of which exceeded the standards of those “before” times,” says the photographer.
Close 8:00 a.m.: five planes and one helicopter of the Russian occupiers are known to have been shot down. The Verkhovna Rada voted for the introduction of martial law in Ukraine from February 24. The decision was approved by 300 deputies.
Photographer Serhiy Korovaynyi on the eve of the full-scale Russian invasion, he worked in Severodonetsk. After Putin's speech, the photographer decided to leave Donbas so as not to be in the epicenter of hostilities.
“On February 23, I was in Kharkiv. We stayed up late talking to friends. There was a feeling that something terrible was about to begin. I succumbed to this atmosphere and went to sleep in clothes. I woke up from the explosions,” he says.
Close 10:00 a.m.:Russian troops spotted on the Okruzhnaya road near Kharkov. They set up checkpoints, barricades, tanks there, and an hour later they try to break through to the city itself. However, they encounter fierce resistance from the defenders of the city.
Close 11:00 a.m.:defenders of the island of Zmiiny in the south of Ukraine refuse to surrender, even in the face of the threat of Russian shelling from the cruiser “Moscow” and the landing of the invaders. The legendary phrase “Russian warship, go to the sea” sounds, in some way prophetic - on April 14, 2022, the cruiser will pass in this direction directly to the seabed.
Photographer of the State Emergency Service Pavel Petrovmentions that his tour of duty fell on February 23, 2022. It was on this day that a state of emergency was declared throughout the country. And the big invasion was met on the couch in the part.
“There was really no emotion because everything was clear to me. And nothing new - because I myself am from Luhansk region. And then everything twisted. All over the country shelling” - says Pavel.
12:40 p.m.: reports of fighting for Gostomel and an attempt by the Russians to seize the Antonov airfield. Fighting for the settlement and airfield is fought by an incomplete brigade of the National Guard of the Armed Forces — against more than 50 helicopters and Russian special forces. After a three-hour battle, the brigade withdraws, firing the runway with mortars.
Photographer from Lviv Yurko Diachyshyn recalls that he did not believe in the possibility of war at all and took the first news of Russian aggression as a fake.
“At that time, he was ill and in poor physical shape, but the reporter's reflex worked, that he needed to go shoot, what he did not understand yet, packed the camera, dressed and sat down in clothes in the corridor, expecting that now somewhere explosions would start or land, or something else, and then for the first time I got lost air alarm siren,” Dyachishin describes that morning.
1:00 p.m.: Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov addressed the Ukrainian people.
“All those who are ready to hold weapons, join the ranks of the forces of the Terroroboron. We give weapons to all patriots who are ready to use it against the enemy without hesitation!” - he said.
Distribution of automatic machines to everyone in Kiev and Kharkov begins; only in the capital in a few hours more than 20 thousand automatic machines are handed out.
Kyiv photographer Vladimir Petrovsays that on February 24 he woke up at about 4 am from the explosions in Kiev.
“I was literally thrown in bed, I jumped to the side, away from the window, grabbed the phone and ran to the bathroom, away from the windows. There I began to read the news and monitored chats with friends and colleagues photojournalists,” Petrov recalls.
During the day, Petrov traveled to Kiev, photographed what was happening and tried to study the situation. In the evening, furnished a bedroom and a mini-office in the bathroom.
4:30pm — 5pm:it becomes known about the attacks of the Russians on Akhtyrka. Fighting begins for Akhtyrka, Trostyanets, and Sumy is actually under siege.
Photographer Alina SmutkoWas in Kyiv on February 24, 2022. She recalls that she did not expect such a development of events, and only made up the alarming suitcase because of the many requests of friends.
“I just went outside with my camera at some point. Then I did not imagine how much harm this or that type of weapon can cause and how safe it is to be on the street in general. My colleagues and I ran out for coffee in a coffee shop that still worked on Khreshchatyk and Maidan Nezalezhnosti, - Alina says. - I took several photos of the deserted Khreshchatyk and Maidan. There was a feeling that these could be my last photos of Kiev.”
5:30 p.m.: near Chernihiv, the reconnaissance platoon of the 74th motorized rifle brigade of the Russian armed forces was captured; the Russians surrendered voluntarily.
7:00 p.m.: Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President Mikhail Podolyak reports that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was captured by the Russians, the Ukrainian military was forced to lay down arms.
Photographer Mykhailo Palinchakwoke up from explosions on February 24, 2022. He recalls being torn between the desire to capture the first minutes of the war and the need to protect his relatives.
“My main task for the day was to send my eldest son to Uzhgorod as soon as possible. Until the very evening, I was able to do it and finally focused on documentation,” says Palinchak.
Close 9pm: There are reports that Russian paratroopers were knocked out of Gostomel, which they managed to temporarily capture. However, Snake Island is captured by the invaders after a fierce battle.
Close 11:00 p.m.:Russian columns reached Konotop in the Sumy region, where they received a stiff repulse. Later, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will arrange a very “fun” night for the Russians — photos of columns of burned “liberators” will quickly spread through the Network.
Kharkiv photographer Pavel Dorohom his mother informed about the beginning of the war by phone, she then lived in Saltovka, and therefore heard and saw the first explosions in the city.
“I simply told him that it could be fireworks. Then I started reading the news and chatting with friends and realized that no, this is not a firework. It was a very strange feeling, birds are singing outside my window, there is snow, beauty, and in the news some kind of game is carried” - explains Dorogoy.
The photographer recalls that on this day he filmed soldiers from the 92nd Brigade who arrived in Saltivka. And also saw the first captured Russian armored personnel carrier.
11:59 p.m.:The first day of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war is coming to an end.
Chronicle of events prepared on the basis of materials Wikipédia, Ukrainian Truthand Public.
The project is implemented thanks to support ZMIN.
Contributors:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Katya Moskalyuk
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Foutei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
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