Ukrainian sniper Oleksandr Matsievsky was captured by Russians in the first year of the full-scale invasion. Later, a video emerged showing him smoking his last cigarette in a forest, apparently next to a grave he had been forced to dig.

Russian President Vladimir Putin once again claimed that he had no choice but to violate the 2014 and 2015 ceasefires and launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In his view, the decision to invade should have been made earlier,