OnPolitics special edition: One year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Hello, OnPolitics readers! This is Kim Hjelmgaard. I'm an international correspondent for USA TODAY. On Friday, Ukraine will hit an unhappy milestone: one year since Russia launched its invasion.
Ukrainians are no strangers to war with Russia. They have been fighting one since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea, on the Black Sea, and started installing, arming and encouraging pro-Russian agitators in Luhansk and Donetsk, industrial areas in Ukraine's vast eastern Donbas region.
However, the last 12 months have been unlike anything most Ukrainians have ever experienced: Millions displaced. Families torn apart. Apartment buildings, schools, libraries and numerous other civilian spaces subjected to regular Russian rocket fire. The war has shown Ukraine's resilience and ingenuity. Polls show the vast majority of Ukrainians, a year later, are convinced they will win this war.
Of course, the war has also had a broader impact. It has re-invigorated the NATO military alliance. It has isolated Russia but also pushed it closer to China, India, Iran and other places in the so-called Global South -- exposing a long-simmering global divide that the U.S.-European bubble often obscures.
Surveys show most Americans still support Ukraine, even if the war turns out to be a protracted fight. But there are also increasing calls for more oversight over the tens of billions in military aid Washington is sending to Kyiv. U.S. taxpayers, in short, are all for rallying behind a fellow democracy that's been unjustly attacked. They also want to understand more about how their money is being spent.
It was with this in mind that I recently spent time on the front line in Ukraine. It's one thing to have a list of all the weapons the Pentagon has shipped to Ukraine, from missile systems to drones. It's another to see those weapons in action - to meet the soldiers operating them and to observe in real-time what they mean in the context of a battlefield. Ukraine is fighting a grinding ground war across a 600-mile front line. My story tries to give a detailed and intimate look at one spot on this front line, on one particular day.
I hope you'll spend time with it.
One year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine: 'It's hard, but they're holding on': On the ground in Ukraine, the war depends on U.S. weapons
More stories from the past year of war
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: OnPolitics special edition: One year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine