When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine a year ago, he expected to quickly capture Kyiv in a knockout blow against his eastern European neighbor. "As Russian forces tried for Kyiv and continued their push to seize territory in the east, Russian troops also made moves in southeastern Ukraine throughout the spring and waged a scorched-earth campaign to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol. Kazakhstan's President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, declined to recognize the legitimacy claims by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine while sharing a stage with Putin at an economic forum in St Petersburg