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These battles and major moments have shaped a brutal year of war in Ukraine
- One year of war in Ukraine has devastated cities and left thousands of soldiers and civilians dead.
- The conflict has ebbed and flowed in multiple phases, as both sides have gained and lost territory.
- Here are the important fights and moments that have shaped a year of war.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine a year ago, he expected to quickly capture Kyiv in a knockout blow against his eastern European neighbor.

But right from the start, things went sideways for Russia due to early blunders and a stiff Ukrainian resistance that shocked both Moscow and the Western leaders whose intelligence agencies predicted Kyiv would fall in a matter of days.

Still, Russia saw some early gains, but its forces have been losing ground for months. A new Russian offensive is underway, but so far, little has come of it as Ukraine continues to hold the line.

Over the past year, cities and towns have been flattened, and the death toll continues to rise. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed, and both militaries have suffered well over 100,000 casualties.

[1 of 9 Photos in Gallery©AP Photo/LIBKOS]

The war has spiraled into a grinding and bloody affair being played out in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. NATO is warning that the conflict has turned into a race for logistics as Russia throws poorly trained soldiers at the front lines to increase offensive pressure with limited success and Ukraine hopes it can regain momentum once it has an influx of heavy and advanced Western-made weaponry.

Here are some of the significant battles and major moments that have shaped the past year of brutal war in Ukraine and brought it to where it is today.

A dramatic helmet-cam video shows Ukrainian troops storming a Russian trench and capturing 2 prisoners of war

The video, filmed by a camera attached to a soldier’s helmet and posted by the 108th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion on Telegram on Tuesday, shows a group of Ukrainian soldiers walking through a barren landscape with their weapons drawn.

TWITTER The 108th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion stormed a Russian trench and captured two soldiers. @OGHB_108/Telegram

https://twitter.com/Bodbe6/status/1633200214549864448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1633200214549864448%7Ctwgr%5E7e25cda852d35f555ac661576efcf3097f7bfe3e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fvideo-ukrainian-troops-storm-russian-trench-capture-troops-2023-3

PART 1
https://twitter.com/i/status/1633200214549864448

A helmet-cam video shows Ukrainian troops storming a Russian trench.

Soldiers of the 108th Mountain Assault Battalion used grenades and machine guns capturing 2 POWs.
The video captures the intimacy of World War I-style trench warfare in Ukraine.
PART 2
https://twitter.com/i/status/1633200514690174978
These battles and major moments have shaped a brutal year of war in Ukraine

One of the soldiers appears to drop a grenade into the Russian trench, causing plumes of black smoke to billow out.

The Ukrainian troops fired several shots toward the trench as the Russian defenders attempted to return fire.

The soldier filming the video throws another grenade into the trench.

The video cuts to the Ukrainian troops surrounding the trench as two Russian soldiers crawl out and surrender to them.

It is not clear where in Ukraine the video was filmed.

Along with the video, the battalion wrote: “We present to your attention a video of the assault, filmed by a camera mounted on the helmet of one of our heroic soldiers, during which several racists were destroyed, and two chums were captured.”

“Raschist” or “ruscist” is a derogatory term used by Ukrainians that translates roughly to “Russian fascism.”

The fighting around the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, in particular, has seen a return to trench warfare reminiscent of World War I.

The helmet-cam video demonstrates how intimate frontline fighting can be in Ukraine, with troops from both sides coming in close contact.

Reports have emerged of troops in Bakhmut engaging in hand-to-hand combat, including fistfights and using shovels as weapons.