A year ago, as signs built of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian’s news desk in London started a live blog. There had been occasional live blogs on the story since the end of January, but 12 February 2022 was the first in what would turn out to be an as-yet-unbroken run covering the military, political and above all human cost of the conflict, and signifying the Guardian’s commitment to covering this world-altering event.
It was just 12 days later, on the morning of 24 February 2022, when Russian president Vladimir Putin announced he was sending forces to carry out a “special military operation” in Ukraine – more plainly, the invasion of a neighbouring country. Within minutes came reports of explosions across Ukraine, from Kharkiv to the capital, Kyiv.
