January 24:NATO puts forces on standby and reinforces eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets. Australia and the UK take America’s lead in urging their citizens to leave Ukraine.
January 26: Washington presents awritten response to Russia’s security demands,repeating a commitment to NATO’s “open-door” policy while offering a “principled and pragmatic evaluation” of Moscow’s concerns.
January 28:Putin says Russia’s main security demands have not been addressed but that Moscow is ready to keep talking.
February 2: The United States says it willsend 3000 extra troops to Poland and Romania to help shield NATO allies in eastern Europe from any spillover from the crisis. “These movements are unmistakable signals to the world that we stand ready to reassure our NATO allies and deter and defend against any aggression,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
February 4:Putin,at Beijing Winter Olympics,wins Chinese support for his demand that Ukraine not be allowed to join NATO.
February 7:French President Emmanuel Macron sees some hope for a diplomatic resolution of the crisis aftermeeting Putin in the Kremlin. Macron then visits Kyiv and praises the “sang-froid” of Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people.
February 9:Biden says “things could go crazy quickly” as the US State Department advises Americans in Ukraine to leave immediately. Other countries also urge their nationals to leave.
February 14:Zelenskiy urges Ukrainians to fly flags and sing the national anthem in unison on February 16,a date some Western media say Russia could invade.
February 15:Russia says some of its troopsare returning to base after exercises near Ukraine and mocks Western warnings about a looming invasion. The United States and NATO rejected Russian claims that it had pulled troops back from the Ukraine border. Russia’s parliament asks Putin to recognise as independent two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
February 18:US ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe,Michael Carpenter,saysRussia has probably massed between 169,000-190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine.
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February 19:Russia’s strategic nuclear forces hold exercises overseen by Putin.
February 21:Macron says Biden and Putin have agreed in principle to a summit over Ukraine. The Kremlin says Putin will sign a decree recognising two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent entities shortly.
February 22: The US ambassador to the United Nations,Linda Thomas-Greenfield,dismissed “as nonsense” Putin’s announcement that he is puttingRussian troops in separatist areas of eastern Ukraine as peacekeepers,saying their presence is “clearly the basis for Russia’s attempt to create a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine”.
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February 23:Western nations,including Australia,hit Russia withtravel bans and financial sanctions in response to what world leaders called an invasion of Ukraine’s sovereignty.
February 24: Russian television broadcast an address from Putin just before 6am Moscow time,where he said:“Russia was left no chance to protect itself by other means … I have decided to conducta special military operation”.
Reuters