These 4 maps show the Russian invasion of Ukraine

On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia began an invasion of Ukraine. How far has Russia invaded and what areas does Russia control at this point of the invasion? Here are four maps illustrating just that.

Past and current movement

From The New York Times, this map shows “past and current” movement as well as fronts and defenses, according to graphics editor Scott Reinhard.

On the map, red arrows represent recent advances of Russian forces, blue lines are Ukrainian defense forces, pink shaded regions represent areas occupied by Russian forces, and circled areas are cities taken by Russia.

Large movements can be seen in the areas north of Kyiv as Russian forces seem to sidestep Ukrainian defenses in Chernihiv.

A majority of Russian-controlled cities are in the south, with past troop movements coming out of Crimea, an area that was seized by Russia in 2014.

Working off the Times map, Columbia University journalism student Nii Annerquaye Abbey created a zoomed-in view of movement over the Irpin river.

Over the river is a bridge that is one of the “main” escape routes out of Irpin, a city northwest of Kyiv, according to Abbey. On the evacuation route towards Kyiv, Abbey points out where evacuees are huddled under the bridge. Directly on top of the bridge is a red arrow, representing recent Russian advances.

Just a little bit further down the road, Abbey points out where at least four people, including two children, were killed by a mortar shell.

Control-of-terrain

This map, provided by research organization Study of War and Critical Threats, a project from the American Enterprise Institute, shows the latest protests as well as territory occupied by Russia.

The areas controlled by Russia are outlined in solid red lines, while areas of Russian advances are outlined by dotted red lines.

The areas in blue circles represent observed Ukranian protests to Russian occupation, and the small blue outlined area above Kharkiv represents claimed Ukrainian counter-offenses.

The Study of War wrote in their tweet that the biggest change has been Russian advances near “key frontline neighborhoods” north and west of Kyiv.

Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, has long been dealing with the onset of Russian forces.

From the east and west

The New York Times published an image Sunday showing how Russian forces are moving from the east and west around Kyiv. The pink areas are Russian-occupied, the pink arrows represent recent Russian advances, and the spiked red haf-circles represent airstrikes or shelling by Russia.

As of March 5, there were 1,123 civilian casualties in Ukraine. These included 364 people killed, 25 of those children, and 759 injured, according to the United Nations.

Most of the casualties were caused by “explosive weapons” with a “wide impact area” according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This includes shelling and air strikes.

Rural areas

On Sunday, Twitter user Kostia Gorobets, an assistant professor at University of Groningen in the Netherlands, posted images from Live Universal Awareness Map’s website, an independent global information site, showing Russian-occupied areas in red.

Gorobets asserts that Russian control over rural area has been “overstated,” citing the maps which show smaller swaths of land on the outskirts actually occupied by Russia.

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