As the world reacts in horror and disbelief to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the man who ordered the military attack, President Vladimir Putin, is being widely condemned for what's been described as a dangerous and unprovoked act of aggression. But who is this man from Leningrad who grew up to become one of the most powerful men in recent history?

Click through and find out more about Vladimir Putin's life and career.

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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin -

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on October 7, 1952 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), in the former Soviet Union.

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Early life -

In September 1960, Putin started school in Leningrad (he's pictured first row, third from right).

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Martial arts and literature -

By the age of 12 he was practicing judo and reading on Marx, Engels, and Lenin in his free time.

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Shy -

By all accounts, the teenaged Putin was shy and retiring. He's pictured uncharacteristically dancing with his classmates during a school party in Leningrad in 1971.

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Judo expert -

Despite—or because of—his introverted nature, Putin excelled at judo, a martial art he has studied all his life.

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Studying law -

Putin studied law at Leningrad State University. He was taught by Anatoly Sobchak, who became his mentor. He graduated in 1975. While there, Putin was required to join the Communist Party and remained a member until it ceased to exist (it was outlawed in 1991).

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KGB career -

In 1975, Putin joined the KGB, the main security agency for the Soviet Union. He worked out of Leningrad. Pictured is the office block that used to house the KGB and where Putin made his career as an officer. Today it's known as Bolshoy Dom ("Big House") and houses the headquarters of the local domestic branches of the Federal Security Service of Russia.

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Marriage -

Little is known of Vladimir Putin's career in the KGB. During this period he married Lyudmila Shkrebneva in July 1985. They have two daughters, Myria (pictured here as a baby) and Yekaterina. The couple divorced in 2014.

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Family visit -

The KGB officer pictured with his parents, Maria and Vladimir, in 1985. Photographs of Putin with close family members are rarely published.

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Working undercover -

From 1985 to 1990, Putin, now a mid-level KGB officer, served in Dresden, East Germany (pictured) using a cover identity as a translator. Most of what he did during the Dresden years remains shrouded in mystery.

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Leningrad State University -

Putin resigned from active KGB service after the collapse of the Communist East German government. In 1990 he became assistant rector for international affairs at Leningrad State University.

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Back at university -

While at the university, Putin scouted for possible KGB recruits, kept his eyes on students, and renewed his friendship with his former tutor Anatoly Sobchak, soon to be the mayor of Leningrad.

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Political career -

In 1990, Putin was appointed as an advisor on international affairs to Leningrad mayor Sobchak, a promotion regarded as his first foray into politics.

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Gorbachev and Yeltsin -

Following the abortive 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt against President Mikhail Gorbachev, Vladimir Putin officially resigned from the KGB. Disillusioned with the political turn of events as the Soviet Union collapsed, Putin briefly returned to civilian life, and might have even have taken a job as a taxi driver according to a 2021 article in the UK's Guardian newspaper. Meanwhile, Boris Yeltsin became the first president of the new Russian Federation.

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Local government -

In 1994, Putin served as first deputy chairman of the Saint Petersburg city government, as well as chairman of the committee for external relations. By 1997, he was its leader.

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Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin -

Putin's political career received a boost in 1997 when Boris Yeltsin appointed him deputy chief of the Presidential Staff, a post which he retained until May 1998. Later that year, the Russian president handed Putin the role of Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the primary intelligence and security organization of the Russian Federation and the successor to the KGB.

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Elected Prime Minister -

On August 9, 1999, Vladimir Putin was appointed acting Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. Yeltsin also confirmed that he regarded Putin as his successor. By the end of the day, the new prime minister announced his intention to run for president.

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President Putin -

Boris Yeltsin's abrupt resignation on December 31, 1999 opened the presidential door. On March 26, 2000, Putin won his first presidential election.

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Chechnya -

Putin's first presidential term saw the Russian Federation embroiled in a brutal war in Chechnya. During a visit to London, his first foreign trip since his election victory, Putin defended his country's involvement in the conflict, as outlined by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

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Second presidential term -

On March 14, 2004, Putin was elected to the presidency for a second term. The Russian economy was buoyant and there was a noticeable increase in overall living standards. Later that year in September, Islamist fighters seized a school in Beslan, southern Russia. A total of 334 hostages were killed, over half of them children.

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"Geopolitical catastrophe" -

In 2005, Reuters repeated President Putin's description of the collapse of the Soviet Union as the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.

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Second premiership -

The Russian Constitution barred Putin from a third consecutive term as president. In 2008, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin ally, was elected his successor. But in a power-switching operation, Putin was appointed prime minister.

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Georgia -

In August 2008, Russia fought and won a short war with Georgia, which lost two breakaway regions controlled by Russian separatists, the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia.

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Three-times president -

In 2012, Putin retuned to the presidency for an unprecedented third term after extending presidential terms to six from four years. Opposition groups accused Putin of electoral fraud, and large anti-Putin demonstrations took place in Moscow and elsewhere.

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Crimea annexed -

In February 2014, Russia began annexing Ukraine's Crimea region in response to Ukrainian protesters ousting of the country’s Russia-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych. Putin is pictured attending a military parade on May 9, 2014 in Sevastopol, Russia.

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Donetsk and Luhansk -

In April, the conflict escalated with a pro-Russian separatist uprising breaking out in eastern Ukraine, across the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Pictured: a pro-Russian protester guards a barricade outside the regional state administration building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

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Innocent victims -

On July 17, 2014, midway through a flight from Amsterdam to Malaysia, a passenger plane was shot down over the war-torn Ukraine-Russia border. All 295 passengers and crew died.

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Landslide victory -

Putin won a landslide victory in March 2018, securing more than 76% of the vote to remain president for a fourth term, with a mandate to stay in office until 2024. He's seen here during the same month at a rally and concert celebrating the fourth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea at Manezhnaya Square in Moscow.

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Prelude to invasion -

In this Kremlin Press Office handout image, President Vladimir Putin is seen on February 22, 2022 addressing the Russian people and declaring that "Ukraine was an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space." The narrative served as a prelude to invasion.

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Ukraine attacked -

After officially recognizing the independence of Moscow-backed rebel regions in eastern Ukraine, Putin in a televised address announced a "special military operation" in the Ukraine, launching a full-scale invasion.

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Russia-Ukraine War -

The attack unleashed a devastating war, with indiscriminate bombings on cities, thousands of civilian deaths, and millions of refugees fleeing the country. The brutality of the offensive, reported war crimes, and Ukraine's fierce resistance led to unprecedented international condemnation, massive sanctions against Russia, and growing isolation for Putin's regime.

Sources: (Politico) (The Guardian) (Reuters) (OCHA) (History) (CBS News)