Russo-Ukrainian war

The Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014 and is ongoing. After Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied Crimea and annexed it from Ukraine. Russia then supported Russian separatist armed groups, who started a war in the eastern Donbas region against Ukraine's military. In 2018, Ukraine declared the region to be occupied by Russia. The 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. This started the current phase of the war, the largest conflict in Europe since World War II. The war has resulted in a refugee crisis and hundreds of thousands of deaths. For the escalation since 2022, see Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present). For other wars between the two countries, see List of wars between Russia and Ukraine.

In early 2014, the Euromaidan protests led to the Revolution of Dignity and the flight of Ukraine's pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Immediately after, unmarked Russian troops occupied Crimea. In March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea after an illegitimate referendum. Meanwhile, pro-Russian protests began in parts of southeastern Ukraine. In April 2014, Russian-backed militants seized towns and cities in the eastern Donbas region and declared the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) to be independent states, which started the Donbas war. Russia secretly supported the separatists with its own troops, tanks, and artillery, which kept Ukraine from fully retaking the territory. The International Criminal Court (ICC) judged that the war was both a national and international armed conflict involving Russia. The European Court of Human Rights judged that Russia controlled the DPR and LPR from 2014 onward. In February 2015, Russia and Ukraine signed the Minsk II agreements, but they were never fully carried out in the following years. The Donbas war became a static conflict, often compared to trench warfare. Ceasefires were repeatedly broken, but the frontlines did not move.

Beginning in 2021, Russia built up a massive military presence near Ukraine's borders, including within neighbouring Belarus. Russian officials repeatedly denied plans to attack Ukraine. Russia's president Vladimir Putin voiced expansionist views and challenged Ukraine's right to exist. He demanded that Ukraine be barred from ever joining the NATO military alliance. Ukraine had been officially a neutral country when the conflict began, but because of Russia's attacks, it revived plans to join NATO. In early 2022, Russia recognised the DPR and LPR as independent states. While Russian troops surrounded Ukraine, its proxies stepped up attacks on Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.

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 invasion that followed was internationally condemned. Many countries imposed sanctions against Russia and sent humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. Facing fierce resistance, Russia abandoned an attempt to seize Kyiv in early April. In August, Ukrainian forces began liberating territories in the north-east and south. In 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 also led to attacks in Russia by Ukrainian and Ukrainian-backed forces, including a cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk region in August 2024. Russia has repeatedly carried out deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians far from the frontline. The UN Human Rights Office reported that Russia was committing severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine. The ICC opened an investigation into war crimes and issued arrest warrants for Putin and several other Russian officials. Russia has repeatedly refused calls for a ceasefire.

Background

Main article: Russia–Ukraine relations

Further information: Russia–NATO relations and Orange Revolution

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991, Ukraine and Russia stayed connected. In 1994, Ukraine signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and agreed to give up the former Soviet nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In return, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States agreed to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and independence through the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Several Eastern Bloc countries joined NATO, partly because of regional security threats involving Russia. In 2005, Putin said Russia would respect the choice of Ukraine and other former Soviet states to join NATO, but he later said Western powers had broken promises by expanding NATO eastward. The 2004 Ukrainian presidential election was controversial. Pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with TCDD dioxin during the campaign and later accused Russia of involvement. The Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner, but election observers alleged vote-rigging. Large peaceful protests during the Orange Revolution led the Supreme Court of Ukraine to annul the result because of widespread electoral fraud. A re-run election was won by Yushchenko. Russia sees this as one of the "colour revolutions" in former Soviet states. According to Anthony Cordesman, Russian military officers viewed these as attempts by the US and European countries to undermine Russia.

Main article: Russo-Georgian War

At the 2008 Bucharest summit, Ukraine and Georgia sought to join NATO, but NATO members were split. Western European countries opposed giving Ukraine and Georgia Membership Action Plans, and Putin strongly opposed their membership bids. In August 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and took control of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Political scientist Paul D'Anieri says the United States was accused of appeasement and naivete in its reaction.

Main articles: Euromaidan and Revolution of Dignity

Viktor Yanukovych won the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election. In 2013, Ukraine's parliament approved a free trade and association agreement with the European Union, but Russia pressured Ukraine to reject it, imposed embargoes on Ukrainian goods, and Sergey Glazyev warned that Russia might no longer recognise Ukraine's borders. In November 2013, Yanukovych withdrew from signing the deal, sparking the "Euromaidan" protests against Russian interference, corruption, and new anti-protest laws. These protests led to the Revolution of Dignity. In January 2014, Ukraine's government resigned. In February, more than 100 protesters were killed in clashes with Berkut special riot police. Yanukovych secretly fled the capital, and parliament voted to remove Yanukovych from office, including members of his own party and of the Communist Party. An interim government was established. Yanukovych declared from Russia that he remained president, and some leaders in the eastern regions declared loyalty to him.

Main article: 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine

From late February 2014, pro-Russian and separatist demonstrations took place in several cities in eastern and southern Ukraine, mostly in the Donbas region, made up of Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast. Pro-Ukrainian rallies also took place, including in Kharkiv, Odesa, Kramatorsk, and Mariupol. Russia used the protests for political warfare, information warfare, and irregular warfare against Ukraine. Leaked e-mails and telephone calls later revealed that the Russian state had funded the separatists, mainly through Kremlin advisers Vladislav Surkov and Sergey Glazyev. On 6 April 2014, hundreds of masked men seized weapons from Security Service buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk. Protesters stormed and occupied regional government headquarters, and the "Donetsk People's Republic" and the "Luhansk People's Republic" were proclaimed as independent states.

Causes

According to political scientist Paul D'Anieri, Russia had four main reasons to start its war with Ukraine in 2014, and these reasons also apply to the 2022 war. Russia wanted to take back control of Ukraine and turn it into a puppet regime. Russia also saw itself as a great power that should have a sphere of influence over the former Soviet Republics.

Other reasons were a security problem in Europe. Russia saw the expansion of NATO as a threat, while other East European states wanted guarantees against Russian expansion. Finally, Russia viewed a democratic Ukraine as a political threat to the authoritarian regime in Russia.

History

Main article: 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea

Further information: Timeline of the Russian annexation of Crimea

The Russian occupation of Crimea is usually seen as the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war. It was followed by the War in Donbas (2014–2022) and then the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started the current phase of the war. Historians do not all agree on the start date. Many point to the February 2014 occupation of Crimea, including the 27 February storming of the Crimean parliament. Ukraine marks 26 February as the "Day of Resistance to the Occupation of Crimea." Ukrainian-American historian Serhii Plokhy said the war began on 27 February 2014.

On 27 February 2014, Russian soldiers without insignia began to occupy Crimea. Russia first denied that they were its soldiers, but Putin later admitted they were Russian special forces. The soldiers took over Crimea's parliament and installed a pro-Russian government under Sergey Aksyonov. A referendum held under Russian occupation was followed by Russia annexing Crimea on 18 March 2014 ([/w/22]). In April 2014, anti-government protests in the Donbas developed into armed conflict between Russian-backed separatists and Ukraine. Fighting continued in the Donbas for years, with many attempts at ceasefire, until the 2022 invasion.

War crimes and human rights violations

See also: Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Humanitarian situation during the war in Donbas, Russian war crimes § Ukraine, and War crimes in the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)

Human rights violations and atrocity crimes happened during the war. From 2014 to 2021, more than 3,000 civilians were harmed in the casualties, most of them in 2014 and 2015. People in the conflict zone had limited freedom to move. In the early years, both sides held people without fair reason. In government-held areas this decreased after 2016, but it continued in separatist-held areas. Investigations into abuses by both sides made little progress.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russian authorities and forces have committed many war crimes, including deliberate attacks on civilians, massacres of civilians, torture, and indiscriminate attacks in crowded areas. After Russian forces left areas north of Kyiv, strong evidence of war crimes was found. In Bucha, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine recorded the killing of at least 73 civilians, and more than 1,200 bodies of civilians were found in the Kyiv region. Russia has also attacked Ukrainian medical infrastructure, with the World Health Organization reporting 1,422 attacks as of 21 December 2023. Many Russian soldiers confessed to crimes against Ukrainians in intercepted phone calls, shown in the 2024 documentary Intercepted. Ukrainian forces have also been accused of various war crimes, including mistreatment of detainees. In 2024, the UN reported severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine, including enforced disappearances, torture, crackdowns on protests and freedom of speech, and enforced Russification. Ukrainians have been coerced into taking Russian passports, and those who refuse can be denied healthcare and other rights. According to Artem Lysohor, Ukraine's head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, mothers in Russian-occupied Luhansk who give birth must prove a parent has Russian citizenship before they can leave the hospital with their child.

Peace and ceasefire proposals

Main articles: Peace negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian war and Peace negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)

See also: Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present) § Peace efforts

Ukraine, Russia, and other countries, including the United States, have proposed several ceasefires and peace plans. In spring 2022, early talks in Belarus and Turkey produced drafts. Ukraine would have stayed neutral and accepted limits on its army, in return for security guarantees, a ceasefire, and Russian withdrawal from land taken after 24 February 2022. The status of Crimea was left for later. These talks fell apart, and relations worsened after the Bucha massacre and later Russian claims to Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine's Peace Formula called for Russia to leave all Ukrainian land and return to the 1991 borders, along with security guarantees and payment for damage. Moscow rejected it. The Black Sea Grain Initiative of July 2022, supported by Turkey and the United Nations, let Ukraine ship grain abroad until Russia pulled out in 2023. In November 2025, U.S. President Trump backed a 28-point peace plan that many saw as favoring Russia. According to The Insider, it was mostly an old Russian document written by Kirill Dmitriev, a Kremlin official. Ukraine and its European allies, along with the US, then made revised versions, which Russia rejected. Ukraine wants an unconditional ceasefire and reliable security guarantees, but it will not give up land. Russia wants limits on Ukraine's army, recognition of its gains, and Ukrainian land it has not conquered.

Related issues

Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, drones and missiles, mostly from Russia, have entered the territory of countries that are not fighting in the war. In NATO countries, a drone first crashed in Zagreb, Croatia, in March 2022, and in November 2022 an out-of-control Ukrainian air-defence missile crashed in Poland's Lublin Voivodeship. Romania has reported the most such incidents since September 2023, and Moldova has also been affected by airspace violations. Control of natural resources was a motive for Russia's annexation of Crimea and southeastern Ukraine. Ukraine has large reserves of natural gas, coal, titanium, iron ore, uranium, and lithium, and is known as the "breadbasket of Europe."

Until 2014, Ukraine was the main route for Russian gas sent to Europe, but Russia's launch of the Nord Stream pipeline bypassed Ukraine. In September 2022, a series of underwater explosions damaged the Nord Stream pipelines, and Sweden and Denmark described them as sabotage. Russia has also used cyberwarfare against Ukraine, including attacks on its power grid. Russian state media falsely claims that Ukraine is dominated by neo-Nazism, a claim that historians widely reject. The conflict has harmed relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and Russia's invasion led Finland to join NATO. Iran and North Korea have supplied weapons to Russia, and China has become a key part of Russia's military supply chain. No formal declaration of war has been issued, and the invasion violated international law.

Reactions

Further information: International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War and List of military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War

See also: Second Cold War

Main article: International reactions to the Russian annexation of Crimea

Further information: International reactions to the war in Donbas

Main article: Reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

After Russia took control of Crimea, Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchynov accused Russia of "provoking a conflict." He compared it to the Russo-Georgian War of 2008, when Russian troops occupied parts of the Republic of Georgia. Ukraine's government later set up the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs to manage occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea regions. On 4 March 2014, the United States pledged $1 billion in aid to Ukraine, though not lethal aid. Russia's actions also worried nearby countries in its sphere of influence, including the Baltic region and Moldova. Many of these countries asked the United States and NATO for more support. Financial markets were also affected. The Russian stock market fell by more than 10 percent, and the ruble hit all-time lows against the US dollar and the euro. Prices for wheat and grain rose, since Ukraine was a major exporter of both.

Polls showed that most Ukrainians opposed the Russian military intervention. From September 2014, the International Republican Institute found that 89% of those polled opposed it. In March 2022, a week after the full invasion, 98% of Ukrainians said no part of Ukraine was rightfully part of Russia. In 2024, a Razumkov Centre poll found that Russia was the most negatively viewed country in Ukraine. In Russia, an August 2014 survey by the Levada Centre found that only 13% of those polled would support the government in an open war with Ukraine. Some protests against the war took place in Russia. In April 2022, about 74% of Russians polled supported the "special military operation" in Ukraine. Some sources said many people may not have wanted to answer pollsters' questions. In the United States, Joe Biden asked Congress in April 2022 for an additional $33 billion to assist Ukraine. At the United Nations, the Security Council failed to pass a resolution condemning Russia's aggression because of a Russian veto. Later, the General Assembly voted 141 to 5 to deplore Russia's aggression against Ukraine, with 35 abstentions. Only Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea, and Eritrea voted against it.