Russo-Ukrainian War

Russo-Ukrainian War
Clockwise from top left:
DateLate February 2014[b] – present
(11 years, 6 months and 4 weeks)
Location
Ukraine, Russia, and Black Sea (spillover into Romania,[1] Poland, Moldova, and Belarus)
Status Ongoing
Territorial
changes
Belligerents

 Ukraine
Supplied by:

Commanders and leaders

 Russia

 Ukraine

Casualties and losses
From hundreds of thousands to more than two millions, reports vary widely.

The Russo–Ukrainian War[3] is a war currently taking place between Russia and Ukraine that began in February 2014.[b]

}} It started when Russia took over Crimea and funded anti-government rebels in the Donbas region. It then escalated in February 2022 when Russia tried to invade the whole of Ukraine. Russia currently occupies most of and has officially annexed Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Donetsk Oblast, Luhansk Oblast, and Kherson Oblast.

The number of soldiers that have been wounded or killed is a half million (as of 2023), according to U.S. authorities.[13]

History

War in Donbas

Main article: War in Donbas (2014–2022)

On 20 February 2014, Russian soldiers took control of Crimea. The Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation soon followed. Russia also supported separatists in the Donbas region, who took control of the Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast and declared them as independent countries.

In August 2014, Ukraine attacked the separatist oblasts. A ceasefire, the Minsk Protocol, was agreed on but both sides continued fighting, with 85% of the ceasefire violations being done by Russia.[14] The fighting slowed down and became a frozen conflict.

Invasion of Ukraine

Main article: Russian invasion of Ukraine

In 2021, more and more Russian soldiers and weapons arrived near the border with Ukraine. There was fear of a possible invasion.[15]

On 17 January 2022, Russian troops and weapons began arriving in Belarus for a 'military exercise', that [started or] was going to start in February; Its name is Allied Resolve.[16] The following month, Russia officially recognised the separatist regions in Donetsk and Luhansk as independent countries (separate from Ukraine). Russian soldiers then began appearing in the regions.

On 24 February 2022, President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine.[17] Most other countries declared their support for Ukraine, especially the countries of the NATO military alliance. Many other countries began sanctioning Russia (such as stopping trade, participation in events and the travel of Russian politicians) as a way to fight Russia without using soldiers.

Russia's effort to take Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, failed in early April 2022 and had to withdraw. Ukraine began taking back land that Russia had taken during 2022. The fighting was mostly in the east and south. In mid August 2022 the frontlines did go more south. This was the start of international fear of nuclear disaster because Russia and Ukraine are fighting near and on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. This nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe. Russia quickly took the plant at the start of the war. As of February 2025 there continues to be fear of nuclear disaster if the plant breaks too much from Russia's attacks on Ukraine's power grid.[18] Also Russia used cruise missiles, bombs, cluster munitions, and thermobaric weapons on port cities along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. This caused much damage to the cities.[18] In September 2022, four Russian-controlled separatist regions of Ukraine were annexed as member states of Russia. Also in September of that year Ukraine got land and the city of Kherson in counter-offensives they did in northeast and southern ukraine.

In 2023 the frontlines changed very little, with many calling the war a stalemate. However, the year saw many important events, such as when the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary company, took over the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and tried to reach Moscow (capital of Russia), after its leader had complained about how the war was going. Putin in the start of 2023 said that Russia would take all of donbas by March 2023 in an offensive. But this offensive made little progress. It did lead into the months long Battle of Bakhmut. The United States estimates Russia had one hundred thousand casualties in this battle. In June of 2023 there was much damage to the Nova Kakhovka dam. the dam is 60 kilometers north of the city of Kherson in southwest ukraine. The dam operator said it could not be repaired. In 2023 There was severe flooding in southwest Ukraine. Ukraine says that Russia blew up the dam to stop Ukraine s offensive. Ukraines offensive in June had strong Russian resistance and heavy losses. These heavy losses were because of Russia's hardened defensive positions, minefields and air superiority.[18] In May of 2024 Russia did the Kharkiv offensive in the Kharkiv region. It got land from the offensive but in the end Ukraine stopped it. Russia's fall and winter campaigns got Russia 4000 kilometers of land with a lot of it in Donetsk. In June Putin made it legal to use nuclear weapons if it's used to help a ally in war like belarus. Putin often makes nuclear threats against Ukraine. In early August of 2024 Ukraine started the Kursk Campaign. It was a large attack on Russian land to get Russia's attention away from attacking Ukraine. Ukraine got 1,250 square kilometers of russian land. But then Russia sent 50,000 troops to stop it. As of 2025 Russia says they have almost half of the land that was taken from them in the Kursk campaign back[18].

Ukraine attacked again in January in the same way but Russia was more ready for the attack so progress was small. North Korean troops fought with russia in both offensives but had such high casualties they left in February.[18] As of 2024's third quarter, the U.S. government is still giving military aid to Ukraine. Earlier, there have been months when U.S. lawmakers did not pass laws about military aid to Ukraine.[19]. As of 2025 the frontlines are a stalemate with Ukraine winning the war of attrition.[20] The 5,000 kilometers Russia had taken since 2024 is less than 1% of Ukraine's land. It is a stalemate with Russia getting an average of 50 meters of land per day. This is slower than the Battle of the Somme in World War I which saw 80 meters of land per day. Since January 2024 Ukraine has destroyed or Russia has lost 1,149 armored fighting vehicles, 3,098 infantry fighting vehicles, 300 self-propelled artillery, and 1,865 tanks of Russia. In fact for every Ukrainian vehicle lost on average about two or five Russian vehicles are lost depending on the vehicle type. According to the Center for Strategic and International studies Russian casualties are very high. As of February 2025 There are 950,000 Russian casualties since the start of the war. This is ten times higher than Soviet casualties in the Soviet-Afghan War and fifteen times higher than the more recent 13 year War in Chechnya. However According to the Center for Strategic and International studies Russia could win the war if the United States cuts off aid to Ukraine. Ukraine has received support from NATO and the United States since the start of the war. However President Trump has caused freezes in support in order to have a peace deal with Russia. Zelensky has said he dislikes the freezes and that he is not included in the peace talks. Zelensky hopes for security guarantees for Ukraine against Russia but does not believe they will happen without him involved in the talks.[21]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic were Russian puppet states that declared their independence from Ukraine in May 2014. In 2022, they received international recognition from each other, Russia, Syria and North Korea, and some other partially recognised states. On 30 September 2022, Russia declared that it had formally annexed both entities. They continue to exist as republics of Russia.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 There are "some contradictions and inherent problems" regarding the date on which the occupation began.[4] The Ukrainian Government maintains, and the European Court of Human Rights agrees, that Russia controlled Crimea from 27 February 2014,[5] when unmarked Russian commandos seized its political institutions.[6] The Russian Government later made 27 February "Special Operations Forces Day".[7] In 2015, the Ukrainian parliament officially designated 20 February 2014 as "the beginning of the temporary occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia",[8] citing the date inscribed on the Russian medal "For the Return of Crimea".[9] On that date, Vladimir Konstantinov, then Chairman of the Supreme Council of Crimea, had said the region would be prepared to join Russia.[10] In 2018, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that the earlier "start date" on the medal was due to a "technical misunderstanding".[11] President Putin stated in a Russian film about the annexation that he ordered the operation to "restore" Crimea to Russia following an all-night emergency meeting on 22–23 February 2014.[4][12]

References

  1. ↑ Rainsford, Sarah (6 September 2023). "Ukraine war: Romania reveals Russian drone parts hit its territory". Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  2. ↑ MacFarquhar, Neil (17 March 2024). "Five Takeaways From Putin's Orchestrated Win in Russia". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Snyder, Timothy (2018). The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America. New York: Tim Duggan Books. p. 197. ISBN 9780525574477. Almost everyone lost the Russo-Ukrainian war: Russia, Ukraine, the EU, the United States. The only winner was China.; Mulford, Joshua P. (2016). "Non-State Actors in the Russo-Ukrainian War". Connections. 15 (2): 89–107. doi:10.11610/Connections.15.2.07. ISSN 1812-1098. JSTOR 26326442.; Shevko, Demian; Khrul, Kristina (2017). "Why the Conflict Between Russia and Ukraine Is a Hybrid Aggression Against the West and Nothing Else". In Gutsul, Nazarii; Khrul, Kristina (eds.). Multicultural Societies and their Threats: Real, Hybrid and Media Wars in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Zürich: LIT Verlag Münster. p. 100. ISBN 9783643908254.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 McDermott, Roger N. (2016). "Brothers Disunited: Russia's use of military power in Ukraine". In Black, J.L.; Johns, Michael (eds.). The Return of the Cold War: Ukraine, the West and Russia. London: Routledge. pp. 99–129. doi:10.4324/9781315684567-5. ISBN 978-1-138-92409-3. OCLC 909325250.
  5. ↑ "Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea) (decision)". European Court of Human Rights. January 2021. The Ukrainian Government maintains that the Russian Federation has from 27 February 2014 exercised effective control over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol ... There was sufficient evidence that during the relevant period the respondent State [Russia] had exercised effective control over Crimea.
  6. ↑ Sasse, Gwendolyn (2023). Russia's War Against Ukraine. Wiley & Sons. p. 2004. Russia's war against Ukraine began with the annexation of Crimea on 27 February 2014. On that day, Russian special forces without any uniform insignia appeared in Crimea, quickly taking control of strategic, military and political institutions.
  7. ↑ DeBenedictis, Kent (2022). Russian 'Hybrid Warfare' and the Annexation of Crimea. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 140. During the night of 26–27 February, Russian special forces without insignia departed Sevastopol ... They arrived at the Crimean Rada and Council of Ministers buildings in Simferopol, disarmed the security and took control of the buildings ... Putin later signed a decree designating 27 February as Special Operations Forces Day in Russia.
  8. ↑ "'Няша' Поклонська обіцяє бійцям 'Беркута' покарати учасників Майдану". www.segodnya.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  9. ↑ "7683rd meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Thursday, 28 April 2016, 3 p.m. New York". Mr. Prystaiko (Ukraine): ... In that regard, I have to remind the Council that the official medal that was produced by the Russian Federation for the so-called return of Crimea has the dates on it, starting with 20 February, which is the day before that agreement was brought to the attention of the Security Council by the representative of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the Russian Federation started – not just planned, but started – the annexation of Crimea the day before we reached the first agreement and while President Yanukovych was still in power.
  10. ↑ "Спікер ВР АРК вважає, що Крим може відокремитися від України". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  11. ↑ "Russia's Orwellian 'diplomacy'". unian.info. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  12. ↑ "Putin describes secret operation to seize Crimea". Yahoo News. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  13. ↑ https://www.nettavisen.no/nyheter/i-atte-ar-kjempet-roman-43-mot-russerne-sa-gikk-det-nesten-forferdelig-galt/f/5-95-1294219. Nettavisen.no. Retrieved 2023-09-01
  14. ↑ Young, Cathy (2022-04-13). "What Really Happened in Ukraine in 2014—and Since Then". The Bulwark. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  15. ↑ "Statement by Press Secretary Jen Psaki on President Biden's Call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine". The White House. 2022-01-02. Archived from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  16. ↑ "Russian forces arrive in Belarus for joint military drills". Reuters. 17 January 2022.
  17. ↑ "Russia attacks Ukraine". CNN. 24 February 2022. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Action, the Center for Preventive. "War in Ukraine". Global Conflict Tracker. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  19. ↑ Greve, Joan E.; Wintour, Patrick (2023-12-06). "Senate Republicans block funding bill that included aid for Ukraine and Israel". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  20. ↑ Jones, Seth G.; McCabe, Riley (2025-06-03). "Russia's Battlefield Woes in Ukraine". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. ↑ Jones, Seth G.; McCabe, Riley (2025-06-03). "Russia's Battlefield Woes in Ukraine". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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