| Russo-Ukrainian War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the conflicts in territory of the former Soviet Union | |||||||||
Clockwise from top left:
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Supplied by: For details, see Russian military suppliers |
Supplied by: For countries providing aid to Ukraine since 2022, see military aid to Ukraine | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
For details of strengths and units involved at key points in the conflict, see: | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Hundreds of thousands, reports vary widely. See Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War for details. | |||||||||
_(27843153986).jpg)
.webp)
.jpg)
.jpg)
The Russo-Ukrainian War[c] began in February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas War. These first eight years of conflict also included naval incidents and cyberwarfare. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and began occupying more of the country, starting the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. The war has resulted in a refugee crisis and tens of thousands of deaths.
In early 2014, the Euromaidan protests led to the Revolution of Dignity and the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Shortly after, pro-Russian unrest erupted in eastern and southern Ukraine, while unmarked Russian troops occupied Crimea. Russia soon annexed Crimea after a highly disputed referendum. In April 2014, Russian-backed militants seized towns in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and proclaimed the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) as independent states, starting the Donbas war. Russia covertly supported the separatists with its own troops, tanks and artillery, preventing Ukraine from fully retaking the territory. In February 2015, Russia and Ukraine signed the Minsk II agreements, but they were never fully implemented in the years that followed. The Donbas war settled into a violent but static conflict between Ukraine and the Russian and separatist forces, with many brief ceasefires but no lasting peace and few changes in territorial control.
Beginning in 2021, there was a massive Russian military buildup near Ukraine's borders, including within neighbouring Belarus. Russian officials repeatedly denied plans to attack Ukraine. Russia's president Vladimir Putin expressed irredentist views and denied Ukraine's right to exist. He demanded that Ukraine be barred from ever joining the NATO military alliance. In early 2022, Russia recognized the DPR and LPR as independent states.
On 24 February 2022, Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, claiming Russia had no plans to occupy the country. The Russian invasion that followed was internationally condemned; many countries imposed sanctions against Russia, and sent humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. In the face of fierce resistance, Russia abandoned an attempt to take Kyiv in early April. From August, Ukrainian forces began recapturing territories in the north-east and south. In late September, Russia declared the annexation of four partially-occupied provinces, which was internationally condemned. Since then, Russian offensives and Ukrainian counteroffensives have gained only small amounts of territory. The invasion has also led to attacks in Russia by Ukrainian and Ukrainian-backed forces, among them a cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast in August 2024. Russia has repeatedly carried out deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians far from the frontline.[3][4][5] The International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into war crimes and issued arrest warrants for Putin and several other Russian officials.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ 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.
- ^ MacFarquhar, Neil (17 March 2024). "Five Takeaways From Putin's Orchestrated Win in Russia". The New York Times.
- ^ "Chernihiv: Are these Russia's weapons of war?". BBC News. 9 April 2022. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
- ^ Gall, Carlotta; Kramer, Andrew E. (3 April 2022). "In a Kyiv Suburb,'They Shot Everyone They Saw'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
- ^ Bogner, Matilda (25 March 2022). "Situation in Ukraine. Statement delivered by the Head of Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine on the situation in Ukraine". Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.