February 24, 2023 - It's now one year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began

The heating system in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson has been damaged due to Russian shelling and residents may have to remain without heat for several days, the Kherson region military administration said Friday. 

"As a result of artillery shelling on February 23, Kherson's heating system was damaged. Heat supply to the city was cut off," the administration said in a Telegram post. 

"Repair crews immediately started working to identify all the damage sites and eliminate the consequences of the enemy attack," it said. 

Repairing works are ongoing and if the tests are successful, heat supply will be resumed on February 26, the administration said. 

A first delivery of Leopard 2 tanks from Poland has arrived in Ukraine, a spokesperson for the Polish defense ministry said on Friday.

Poland has said it will deliver 14 Leopard 2 tanks in all to Ukraine in the “next two or three weeks” once the training of the Ukrainian troops is complete.

Much of this training has taken place in western Poland. CNN has reported from Poland’s main tank range, in Swietoszow, near the German border, where Ukrainian troops received a crash course in how to run the tanks that Kyiv has sought after for so long. Germany approved the release of Leopard 2 tanks, which it manufactures, last month.

Experts believe Leopard 2 tanks could make a significant difference to Ukraine’s ability to withstand and repel Russian advances. 

“Leopard 2 is a modern, well-protected main battle tank with good sensors,” Jack Watling, senior research fellow in Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told CNN. “It was originally designed to be maintained by conscripts and is therefore simpler to keep in the fight than some other NATO designs like the Challenger 2. There is also an existing production line to keep Leopard 2s supplied with spare parts.”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he intends to present the idea of imposing new sanctions against Russia during a virtual meeting with G7 leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.

Kishida, who is hosting the meeting, told reporters ahead of the meeting that the G7 intends to also urge third-party countries to suspend military support to Russia. 

The prime minister reiterated the need for restoring "world peace and order" and said "any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force will not be tolerated."

Kishida is the only G7 leader who has not yet traveled to the Ukrainian capital.

On Friday, he said he was considering a visit "in light of various circumstances, including security and secrecy," but that there are no concrete plans at this time.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in the early hours of February 24, 2022. Its first signs were the emergence of tanks on the horizon, storming towards the border. Soon after, rockets rained down on Ukraine’s cities. 

In a chilling speech that morning steeped in innuendo and false pretences, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced what he called a “special military operation.”

The address included a threat that anyone “who may be tempted to intervene” in the deadly and illegal attack on Ukraine would face “such consequences as you have never experienced in your history.”

That morning, it seemed to the Kremlin and to many observers around the world that the invasion would be complete in weeks, if not days, given Russia’s supposed military might. 

Millions of women and children bolted to Ukraine’s western borders, seeking safety further into Europe, while Kyiv ordered Ukrainian men to stay in the country. 

Roads and train stations were clogged with residents who had frantically packed bags and left their homes, where moments earlier they had been woken by missile fire and air raid sirens. 

It often took many days to get to the borders. When they did, they faced lengthy lines. Eventually, thousands of Ukrainians arrived in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania or Moldova, in relative safety at last.

But for those who could or would not leave, February 24 was a day of terror and bloodshed.

Russian missile strikes destroyed homes, killed dozens and left many with physical and mental scars.

The missiles seemingly fell everywhere — in the capital Kyiv, on which Moscow’s forces invading from the north had set their sights; in western cities such as Lviv, hundreds of miles from the Russian border; and in towns and urban areas throughout Ukraine. 

In a video statement, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said he believed “enemy sabotage groups” had entered Kyiv and that he was their number one target. His family, he said, was the second target.

“They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he said, adding he was staying in the government quarter.

Zelensky and his top team rejected opportunities to evacuate, instead staying to coordinate the response.

Ukraine’s troops launched a defiant defence of their country. In the coming weeks, they would slowly but surely turn the tide of the war, repelling Russia’s forces from the center of the country.

But none of that was known on February 24, a day Ukrainians will remember as one of confusion, fear and resistance. 

As Ukraine marks the first anniversary of Russia launching a full-scale war against the country, Ukrainians of all walks of life are actively involved in the efforts to defeat the enemy.

At a rehabilitation center run by Rodyna, a Kyiv-based NGO working with people with learning disabilities, everybody was busy at work on Tuesday afternoon.

The task of the day: trench candles. The group has joined thousands of people across the country in crafting these improvised candles from empty tins.

Serhiy, 38 and Zhenia, 32, were patiently cutting long, thin strips from cardboard, rolling them up and stuffing them into the tins. Inna, 35, sat next to them, observing and helping to roll the paper.

Once all of the containers were stuffed with the cardboard, they would be filled to the rim with melted wax, then set aside to cool down.

The improvised candles last for hours, producing both light and warmth as they burn.

Making them has become a favorite — and extremely useful — pastime for thousands of people around the country, similar to last year’s initiative to make Molotov cocktails for the military checkpoints. There are collection points for empty tins in many residential buildings in Kyiv.

Nadiia Mayorova, Rodyna’s manager, told CNN that candle making is a popular activity at the center. It’s a good therapy, because it allows the clients to learn new skills and practice their motor skills — all while completing a genuinely useful task.

Ongoing Russian shelling has killed at least three civilians in Ukraine's east and south, and injured several others over the last 24 hours, according to the latest situational updates from local authorities. Here's what happening across the country:

Donetsk region:

Kherson region: 

Kharkiv region: 

Shelling has also been reported in other regions of Ukraine, including Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Chernihiv, according to local authorities.

The United States announced a $2 billion dollar aid package to Ukraine as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed that the US would stand by Ukraine “for as long as it takes.” 

The security package, which CNN reported Thursday, includes more rounds for the HIMARS rocket launchers, more artillery ammunition, as well as different drones and counter-drone equipment. Russia has used Iranian drones to target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, cutting off power to different parts of the country at times. 

Unlike drawdown packages which pull military equipment directly from US stocks, this aid falls under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which contracts with industry to procure the equipment. The aid does not arrive in Ukraine as quickly, but it is part of a longer-term commitment to continue providing Ukraine with lethal and non-lethal supplies. 

Austin acknowledged the challenges ahead for Ukraine in the face of frequent Russian bombardments, but he vowed that the US and a coalition of allies under the Ukraine Defense Contact Group would continue to provide Kyiv the tools and weapons it needs for the war.

Ukraine is capable of putting an end to the Russian invasion this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address to a commemorative event in Berlin on the first anniversary of the war.

Reflecting on the year that's passed, Zelensky spoke boldly of the year ahead. Ukraine has the power to win “in unity, resolutely and steadfastly,” he said. 

He also thanked Germany and all allies for standing with his country and said because of the support shown to Ukraine, no one nation would “dare aggression against another nation if he knows that the free world will defend that nation.”

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on Friday asked European countries to “jointly procure ammunition for Ukraine,” as European Union states did with coronavirus shots during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kallas spoke at a news conference alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Tallinn, to mark the anniversary of the Estonian Declaration of Independence and the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Kallas drew a parallel between those events, saying: “Estonia had the courage to fight for our freedom. The same applies for Ukrainian friends. Their courage and freedom today is a reminder that freedom is not given and need constant care.”

“Freedom also needs friends and partners … Ukraine’s place is in the European Union and after the end of the war, also in NATO.” Kallas said.

Kallas also called the Russian threat a “long-term one” and called on European countries to invest more in their own defense.