February 24, 2022: The Russian Federation invades Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who has declared that Ukraine has never had the right to exist as a country separate from Russia or the Soviet Union -- as it was from 1917 to 1922, and had been again since 1991 -- had already, in 2014, annexed the Crimea and supported a Moscow-friendly "breakaway republic" in the Donbas.
Now, he has sent his forces in to take the country, launching not only tanks but missiles, targeting the capital of Kyiv, and the port cities of Odessa and Mariupol. The whole world has sided with Ukraine against Russia, but Putin doesn't care.
By the end of this calendar year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine will either be dead, or captured, or victorious. If he somehow survives, he will probably be named Time magazine's Person of the Year, and the olive drab T-shirt he has worn in his public statements may become as iconic as Queen Elizabeth's purse, the Mao suit, the Che beret, the Nehru jacket, Yassir Arafat's keffiyeh, or Joe Biden's aviator shades.
UPDATE: By August 1, 2022, of the country's 40 million people, 40,000, or 1 in every 100, weare believed to have been killed; and another 7 million, nearly 1 in every 6, had been displaced. But U.S. estimates said that 15,000 Russians have been killed, about 3 times as many as Putin's government would admit to.
By the time of the war's 3rd Anniversary, February 24, 2025, estimates were that Ukraine had lost 80,000 military men and women, and 12,000 civilians; while Russian troops killed were around 200,0000.
The Ukrainians' fighting to defend their homeland has been courageous, and has earned the world's admiration. Zelenskyy refuses to give up.
Following viewer demands for a battle with a Russian, a 2013 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, featured a five-man "battle royale": "Nice" Peter Shukoff played Rasputin, Vladimir Lenin and Vladimir Putin; while "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Joseph Stalin and Mikhail Gorbachev. This, of course, was before Putin tried to conquer Ukraine, but was already seen as a villain all over the world.
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February 24, 2022 was a Thursday. Baseball was about to start Spring Training. And football season had recently ended with the Super Bowl. There were 7 NBA games played:
* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Boston Celtics, 129-106 at the Barclays Center.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 106-103 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks, 112-108 at the United Center in Chicago. DeMar DeRozan scored 37 points.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 119-114 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. D'Angelo Russell scored 37.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 124-104 at the the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Sacramento Kings, 128-110 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 132-95 at the Moda Center in Portland.
There were 8 games in the NHL, and all 3 New York Tri-State Area teams played:
* The New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals, 4-1 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-1 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The New York Islanders lost to the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 at the SAP Center in San Jose. (I said all 3 New York area teams played. I didn't say they all won.)
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota Wild, 3-1 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Dallas Stars, 2-1 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Florida Panthers, 6-3 at the FLA Live Arena in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida. (It's now named the Amerant Bank Arena.)
* The Boston Bruins beat the Seattle Kraken, 3-2 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Jake DeBrusk needed just 33 seconds of overtime to score the winner.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames, 7-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
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