Timelapse map shows how close Russia came to taking Kyiv and how Ukraine reclaimed its land over a year of war

Chris Panella
Feb 24, 2023,

A Ukrainian soldier checks the wreckage of a burnt Russian tank outside of the village of Mala Rogan, east of Kharkiv, on April 1, 2022, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty 

A new timelapse map from AP shows how close Russia came to taking Kyiv and how Ukraine fended them off.

Putin believed he could capture Kyiv in a matter of days, underestimating Ukraine's military.

After a year of war, the conflict is focused on a hard fight in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

A new timelapse video map from the Associated Press shows the shifting battle lines in Ukraine over a year of war, highlighting how close Russia came to capturing the capital, Kyiv, in the early weeks of the war — and how Ukraine held the line and eventually forced Russia into a retreat before going on the offensive months later.

After Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, exactly one year ago Friday, they approached Kyiv from multiple directions, capturing areas like Chernobyl, the strategic Hostomel airport, and outlying suburban areas with the aim being to encircle the capital.

The situation looked bad as a daunting 40-mile-long military convoy of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and other military hardware began moving toward Kyiv, but setbacks, such as logistics challenges in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance, stalled their advance just outside the city. Some columns were "literally out of gas" and "having problems feeding their troops," a senior US official said at the time.

Insider previously reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin thought Russia could capture Kyiv in about two days, but he seriously overestimated Russia's military. Poor strategy, command failures, and mismanaged logistics hindered Russian advances.

Ukraine made the most of Russia's miscalculations and missteps, using the battle for Kyiv as an opportunity to demonstrate its ability to defend its homeland. After six weeks, Ukraine was not only able to resist Russia's attempts to capture Kyiv, but they also forced Russian troops to withdraw to the east, where a grinding artillery battle unfolded.

Ukrainian forces "were able to show that they were up to the fight," Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO Policy, told Insider's Jake Epstein. While the war in Ukraine has ebbed and flowed over time, the battle for Kyiv stands as one of the first testaments to Ukraine's resilience and Putin's failure.

By late summer, Ukraine was able to leverage key weapons, such as the US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), to break the stalemate in the east and go on the offensive in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Momentum, however, has since slowed, and the lines have been largely static for months, even as Russia attempts a new offensive push.