The Order
On the morning of 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared on state television to announce what he termed a "special military action" against Ukraine . The phrasing was deliberate, clinical—chosen to avoid the word "war." Within hours, Russian missiles struck military and civilian targets across the country . Troops and armoured columns rolled south from Belarus and north from Crimea. Tank treads churned the frozen earth along a front that stretched nearly the length of Ukraine's borders.