The evidence firmly supports the claim. Multiple independent, high-authority sources—including UN documents, Reuters, BBC, PBS, and academic legal analysis—identify 24 February 2022 as the date Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The only meaningful caveat is that Russian military aggression against Ukraine began earlier, in 2014.
Caveats
24 February 2022 refers to the start of the full-scale invasion, not the beginning of all Russia-Ukraine hostilities, which date back to 2014.
Russian official use of the term 'special military operation' is political framing and does not outweigh the factual characterization used by international institutions and independent reporting.
Isolated references to 25 February usually reflect later developments, publication timing, or specific assaults, not the invasion’s start date.