The day itself: history has made its first move, and the next one is yours.
Briefing
24 February 2022. Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine: strikes on cities and airfields, a drive from Belarus on Kyiv, from Crimea into the south and from Russia on Kharkiv. Zelenskyy has declared martial law. The West is preparing sanctions, Europe depends on Russian gas, and China has declared a "no limits" friendship with Moscow. How this war ends is up to you and the world around you.
Real history stays a strong tendency: what happened later is planned for its date – until your actions change the world.
You govern: the orders are the state's.
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The world on 24 February 2022
Before dawn on 24 February 2022 Vladimir Putin announces a "special military operation" against Ukraine, and Russian forces attack from Russia, from Belarus and from the occupied Crimea. Missiles strike airfields and military sites across the country, and armoured columns head for Kyiv, Kharkiv and the south. Ukraine breaks off relations with Russia and declares martial law; President Volodymyr Zelensky stays in the capital.
The war follows eight years of conflict. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and has backed the separatist forces in Donetsk and Luhansk, whose "republics" Moscow recognised three days ago. Over the winter it massed some 150,000 troops near Ukraine's borders while denying any plan to invade, and demanded guarantees that NATO would grow no further east.
The United States, the European Union, Britain and their allies promise sanctions of a severity not seen before and send weapons to Ukraine, but say they will not fight Russia themselves. China calls for restraint and does not condemn the attack. How long Kyiv holds, how far the sanctions reach and who helps whom will decide the course of the war and Europe's security for years.