Video_2022-02-22_00-06-10.mp4 Today

: Germany halted the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and the US and UK began announcing initial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs.

During this period, several videos were circulated by Russian state media and proxy forces that were later identified by Western intelligence and open-source investigators as staged "false flag" operations. video_2022-02-22_00-06-10.mp4

: Some videos purportedly showed Ukrainian saboteurs or shelling in Russian-held territory to provide a pretext for the invasion. : Germany halted the certification of the Nord

: This date saw a significant increase in shelling and military activity along the "line of contact" in the Donbas region. Videos circulating at this time often depicted explosions, night-time tracer fire, or the movement of Russian military convoys toward the Ukrainian border. : This date saw a significant increase in

unanimously authorized the use of military force abroad, providing the legal domestic framework for the invasion that followed 48 hours later.

: Metadata from some videos released around this time suggested they had been filmed days before their "live" broadcast, a tactic used to manufacture a sense of immediate crisis. Key Events on February 22