Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation” into Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with troops crossing the border from Belarus and Russia. Moscow's forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.
Russian forces retreated last week from the Kyiv suburbs, leaving behind a trail of destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, U.S. and European officials accused Russian troops of committing war crimes.
A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Apr 06, 2022, 11:00 AM EDT
UN vote scheduled for Thursday to suspend Russia from UN Human Rights Council
The U.N. General Assembly has scheduled a Thursday vote on suspending Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council.
A woman carries her cat as she walks past buildings that were destroyed by Russian shelling, in Borodyanka, in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, April 5, 2022.
Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
A two-thirds majority is needed to suspend Russia, which would become only the second country to face this censure after Libya was suspended in 2011 for Muammar Gaddafi's forces firing on protesters.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Tuesday that she "know[s] we're going to get" the two-thirds majority, pointing to two previous U.N. General Assembly resolutions that passed with 141 and 140 votes each.
-ABC News' Conor Finnegan
Apr 06, 2022, 9:17 AM EDT
At least 1,480 civilians killed, 2,195 injured in Ukraine: UN
At least 1,480 civilians have been killed and 2,195 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
At least 123 children were among the dead and 183 among the injured, according to the OHCHR, which noted that the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine had reported at least 165 children were killed and 266 injured as of Tuesday.
In the courtyard of their house, Vlad Tanyuk, 6, looks at the grave of his mother Ira Tanyuk, who died because of starvation and stress due to the war, in Bucha, Ukraine, April 4, 2022.
Rodrigo Abd/AP
According to a press release dated Tuesday from the OHCHR, most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missile and airstrikes.
"OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration," the agency said.
Those areas include Mariupol and Volnovakha in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast, Popasna in the Luhansk Oblast, and Borodyanka in the Kyiv Oblast, where the OHCHR said "there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties." Casualty numbers from those locations "are being further corroborated" and thus are not included in the latest statistics, according to the agency.
Apr 06, 2022, 8:16 AM EDT
More evidence that bodies in Bucha were there before Russian forces left
More evidence has emerged that some of the bodies seen lying in the streets of Bucha were there before Russian troops retreated from the Ukrainian town, northwest of Kyiv.
According to the U.K. Ministry of Defense, an analysis of satellite imagery dated March 21 identified at least eight bodies lying on a street in Bucha. The town was occupied by Russian forces until March 31, the ministry said in an intelligence update Tuesday night.
As Ukrainian troops regained control over Bucha, graphic images surfaced earlier this week showing numerous bodies of dead civilians -- some shot at close range and with their hands bound -- strewn across streets and in mass graves. Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of committing war crimes. Russia has denied responsibility, calling the footage of Bucha "fake" and saying that all of its units withdrew completely from the town around March 30.
However, mounting evidence contradicts Russia's claims that the scene was "staged" after its troops left.
Apr 06, 2022, 6:17 AM EDT
Russian military claims attacks on fuel depots
Russian missiles destroyed fuel storage facilities in five cities across Ukraine on Wednesday morning, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.
"On the morning of April 6, high-precision air- and ground-based missiles destroyed 5 fuel storage bases near Radekhov, Kazatin, Prosyanaya, Nikolaev and Novomoskovsk,” the ministry claimed in its morning briefing. “These facilities have been used to supply fuel to Ukrainian military formations in Kharkov, Nikolaev and Donbass areas.”
A firefighter works at the site of burning fuel storage facilities damaged by an airstrike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine in this handout image released April 6, 2022.
