| 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theRusso-Ukrainian war (outline) | |||||||
 Animated map of the Russian invasion from 24 February to 7 April 2022 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ukraine[b] | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Order of battle | Order of battle | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Pre-invasion at border: 150,000–200,000[5] Pre-invasion total: 900,000 military[6] 554,000 paramilitary[6] | Pre-invasion total: 196,600 military[7] 102,000 paramilitary[7] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Reports vary widely; see§ Casualties for details. | |||||||
On 24 February 2022, during theRusso-Ukrainian war, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, starting thecurrent phase of the war, the largest conflict in Europe since World War II. By April 2022, the invasion's initial goal of a rapid Russian victory viadecapitation had failed, with Ukraine pushing back thenorthern arm of the invasion and preventing the capture of Kyiv. Following this, the war transitioned to more conventional fighting in thesouth andeast of Ukraine.[8]
Ina televised address, Russian presidentVladimir Putin announced the invasion, calling it a "special military operation". He said that its purpose was to support the Russian-backed breakawayrepublics of Donetsk andLuhansk, whoseparamilitary forces had been fighting Ukraine in thewar in Donbas since 2014. Putin espousedirredentist andimperialist views challenging Ukraine's legitimacy as a state,baselessly claimed that the Ukrainian government wereneo-Nazis committing genocide against theRussian minority in theDonbas, and said that Russia's goal was to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine.[9][10][11][12]
In late 2021, Russiamassed troops near Ukraine's borders andissued demands to theWest including a ban on Ukraine ever joining theNATO military alliance.[13] After repeatedly denying having plans to attack Ukraine, on 24 February 2022, Russian air strikes and a ground invasion were launched on anorthern front fromBelarus towards the capitalKyiv, asouthern front fromCrimea, and aneastern front from the Donbas and towardsKharkiv. Ukraine enactedmartial law, ordereda general mobilisation, and severed diplomaticrelations with Russia.
Russia's invasion plan involved defeating Ukraine within ten days and capturing or killing its government, followed by"mopping up" operations, establishingfiltration camps for Ukrainians, setting up occupation regimes, trying and executing people involved in theRevolution of Dignity, and annexation.[14][15][16][17] Whilst the invasion failed its main goal of a rapid victory, as Ukraine pushed back the northern arm of the invasion and prevented the capture of Kyiv, Russia maintained a military occupation of the southeast of Ukraine, and several months after the invasion, unilaterally declared theannexation of four Ukrainian oblasts.
The invasion was met with widespreadinternational condemnation. TheUnited Nations General Assembly passeda resolution condemning the invasion and demanding a full Russian withdrawal. TheInternational Court of Justice ordered Russia to halt military operations, and theCouncil of Europe expelled Russia. Many countries imposedsanctions on Russia and its ally Belarus and providedhumanitarian andmilitary aid to Ukraine. TheBaltic states and Poland declared Russia a terrorist state.Protests occurred around the world, with anti-warprotesters in Russia being met by mass arrests and greater mediacensorship. TheInternational Criminal Court (ICC) openedan investigation intocrimes against humanity,war crimes,abduction of Ukrainian children, and genocide against Ukrainians. The ICC issued arrest warrantsfor Putin and other Russian officials.
In 2013,Ukraine's parliament overwhelmingly approved finalising anassociation agreement with theEuropean Union (EU),[18] which had been negotiated for several years. Russia put pressure on Ukraine to reject the agreement andimposed economic sanctions on the country.[19] Kremlin adviserSergei Glazyev warned in September 2013 that if Ukraine signed the EU agreement, Russia would no longer acknowledge Ukraine's borders.[20]
In November, Ukrainian presidentViktor Yanukovych suddenly withdrew from signing the agreement,[21] choosing closer ties to the Russian-ledEurasian Economic Union instead. This coerced withdrawal triggered a wave of protests known asEuromaidan, culminating in theRevolution of Dignity in February 2014. Almost100 protesters were killed. Despite signing an agreement, Yanukovych fled. Parliamentvoted to remove him and he ended up in Russia.
Russian soldiers with no insignia occupied the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, andseized the Crimean Parliament.[22] Russiaannexed Crimea in March 2014, after awidely disputed referendum held under occupation.Pro-Russian protests immediately followed in the Ukrainian cities ofDonetsk andLuhansk. Thewar in Donbas began in April 2014 whenarmed Russian mercenaries led byIgor 'Strelkov' Girkin seizedSloviansk and nearby towns.[23][24][25] Russian troops were covertly involved in the fighting.[26] TheMinsk agreements, signed in September 2014 and February 2015, aimed to resolve the conflict, but ceasefires and further negotiations repeatedly failed.[27]
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There was a large Russian military build-up near Ukraine's borders in March and April 2021,[28] and again in both Russia and Belarus from October 2021 onward.[29] Members of the Russian government, including Putin, denied having plans to attack or invade Ukraine up until the day before the invasion.[30][31][32]
While Russian troops massed on Ukraine's borders, Russia's proxy forces launched thousands of attacks on Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.[33]Observers from theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which also includes Ukraine and Russia, reported more than 90,000 ceasefire violations throughout 2021; the vast majority in Russian-controlled territory.[34]
In July 2021, Putin published an essay "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians", in which he called Ukraine "historically Russian lands" and claimed there is "no historical basis" for the "idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians".[35] Putin was accused of promotingRussian imperialism,[36] historical revisionism and disinformation. Writing in 2024,Michael McFaul andRobert Person described this essay as representing not only "cynical propaganda" but also Putin's "deeply held and internalized beliefs".[37]
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In December 2021, Russia issuedan ultimatum to the West, which included demands that NATO end all activity in its Eastern European member states and ban Ukraine or any otherformer Soviet state from ever joining the alliance.[13][38] Russia's government said NATO was a threat and warned of a military response if it followed an "aggressive line".[39] NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg replied that "Russia has no veto" on whether Ukraine joins, and "has no right to establish asphere of influence to try to control their neighbours".[40]
Several Western political analysts suggested Russia knew that its "unrealistic demands" would be rejected,[38] which would give it apretext to invade.[41] Political scientistsMichael McFaul and Robert Person said Russia's occupation of Crimea and the Donbas since 2014 had already blocked Ukraine's NATO membership, suggesting that Putin's real aim was to subjugate Ukraine.[42]
NATO offered to negotiate some of Russia's demands and to improve militarytransparency, as long as Russia stopped its troop buildup.[43] The alliance rejected Russia's demand to keep Ukraine out of NATO forever, pointing out that Russia had signed agreements affirming the right of Ukraine and other countries to join alliances.[44][45] The US proposed that itself and Russia sign an agreement not to station missiles or troops in Ukraine.[44] Putin replied that Russia's demands had been "ignored", and the Russian troop buildup continued.[46]
Western leaders vowed that heavy sanctions would be imposed should Putin choose to invade rather than to negotiate.[47] French presidentEmmanuel Macron[48] and German ChancellorOlaf Scholz met Putin in February 2022 to dissuade him from invading. According to Scholz, Putin told him that Ukraine should not be an independent state.[49] Scholz told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to declare Ukraine aneutral country and renounce its aspirations to join NATO. Zelenskyy said Putin had broken agreements and could not be trusted to respect Ukrainian neutrality.[50] Ukraine had been a neutral country in 2014 when Russia occupied Crimea andinvaded the Donbas.[51][52]
On 19 February, Zelenskyy made a speech at theMunich Security Conference, calling for Western powers to end their "appeasement" of Putin and give a timeframe for when Ukraine could join NATO.[53] Political analystsTaras Kuzio andVladimir Socor agree that "when Russia made its decision to invade Ukraine, that country was more remote than ever not only from NATO membership but from any track that might lead to membership".[54]
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Fighting in Donbas escalated from 17 February 2022.[55] The Ukrainians and the Russian separatists accused one another of firing into their respective territories.[56][57] On 18 February, the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republicsordered all civilians to leave their capitals,[58][59][60] although observers noted that full evacuations would take months.[61] Ukrainian media reported a sharp increase in artillery shelling by the Russian-led militants in Donbas as an attempt to provoke the Ukrainian army.[62][63] Separatist leaders warned that Ukraine was about to launch an offensive, but they gave no evidence, andThe Guardian noted it would be "exceedingly risky" for Ukraine to assault the Donbas while Russian troops were massed on its borders.[64] Zelenskyy said his military would not respond to the provocations.[65]
In the days leading up to the invasion, the Russian government intensified itsdisinformation campaign. Ukraine and Western leaders accused Russia of stagingfalse flag attacks to give Russia a pretext for invading.[65][64] Russian state media aired fabricated videos that purported to show Ukrainian forces attacking Russians in Donbas; evidence showed that the claimed attacks, explosions, and evacuations were staged by Russia.[66] On 17 February, Russian proxy forcesshelled a kindergarten and blamed it on Ukraine, although the kindetgarten was in Ukrainian-held territory.[64] On 21 February, the head of the RussianFederal Security Service (FSB) said that Russian forces had killed five Ukrainian "saboteurs" that crossed into Russian territory, capturing one Ukrainian serviceman and destroying two armoured vehicles. The claim was denied by Ukraine and drew warnings that Russia was seeking further justification to start an invasion.The Sunday Times described it as "the first move in Putin's war plan."[67][68]
On 21 February,[69] Putin announced that the Russian government wouldrecognise the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.[70] The same evening, Putin directed that Russian troops be deployed to the Donbas, in what he called a "peacekeeping mission".[71][72] In the same speech, Putin questioned the validity of the Ukrainian nation, stating that "Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia", views whichMichael McFaul and Robert Person, writing in 2024, described as "grotesque".[37] The 21 February intervention in Donbas was condemned by several members of theUN Security Council; none voiced support.[73] On 22 February, video footage shot in the early morning showed Russian armed forces and tanks moving in the Donbas region.[74] TheFederation Council unanimously authorised the use of military force outside Russia.[75]
In response, Zelenskyy ordered the conscription of armyreservists;[76] The following day, Ukraine's parliament proclaimed a 30-day nationwidestate of emergency and ordered the mobilisation of all reservists.[77][78][79] Russia began to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv.[80] The websites of the Ukrainian parliament and government, along with banking websites, were hit byDDoS attacks, widely attributed to Russian-backed hackers.[81][82] On the night of 23 February,[83] Zelenskyy gavea speech in Russian in which he appealed to the citizens of Russia to prevent war.[84][85] He also refuted Russia's claims about the presence of neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian government and said that he had no intention of attacking the Donbas region.[86] Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 23 February that the separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk had sent a letter to Putin stating that Ukrainian shelling had caused civilian deaths and appealing for Russian military support.[87]
In response, Ukraine requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting.[88][89] Half an hour into the emergency meeting, Putin announced the start of military operations in Ukraine.Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian representative, subsequently called on the Russian representative,Vasily Nebenzya, to "do everything possible to stop the war" or relinquish his position aspresident of the UN Security Council; Nebenzya refused.[90][91]
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TheRoyal United Services Institute reported that Russia's plan involved defeating Ukraine within ten days and capturing or killing its government, followed by"mopping up" operations; establishingfiltration camps for Ukrainians; setting up occupation regimes; executing people involved in the Revolution of Dignity; and lastly annexation.[15][16][17] The decision to invade was reportedly made by Putin and a small group ofwar hawks orsiloviki in Putin's inner circle, including national security adviserNikolai Patrushev anddefence ministerSergei Shoigu.[93]
After the start of the invasion, Ukrainian and Western analysts assessed that Putin seemed to have believed that the Russian Armed Forces would be capable of seizingKyiv within days. This assessment led to the conclusion that "taking Kyiv in three days" had been the original goal of the invasion.[94][95][96] The narrative of the planned "three day" capture of Kyiv was reinforced by statements byAleksandr Lukashenko[97][98] andMargarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russian state-controlled broadcasterRT.[99] On 2 March, theSecurity Service of Ukraine (SBU) repeated the claim following its release of a video showing a captured Russian soldier claiming that his unit was sent into Ukraine with food supplies for only three days.[100][101] Documents found inside Russian tanks mention how the "special military operation" would conclude in ten days.[17] Ukraine also captured "flagship" tanks – as used in parades – along with military parade uniforms, suggesting that Russia expected to stage a victory parade in Kyiv after a swift conquest.[102][103]
Putin himself asserted back in 2014 that Russian forces "could take Ukraine in two weeks".[104][105] Three days after the invasion began,RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, mistakenly published an article called "Russia's Coming and the New World", which had been made in advance in anticipation of a Russian victory; it announced that "Ukraine had returned to Russia".[106][107] Zelenskyy also said that Russia had sent him an ultimatum to step down and be replaced withViktor Medvedchuk.[108][109]
Before 5 a.m. Kyiv time on 24 February, Putin, inanother speech, announced a "special military operation", which effectively declared war on Ukraine.[110][111] Putin said the operation was to "protect the people" of the Russian-controlled breakaway republics. Hebaselessly claimed that Russians in the Donbas had "been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime", that Ukrainian government officialswere neo-Nazis under Western control, that Ukraine was developing nuclear weapons, and that a hostile NATO was building up its forces and military infrastructure in Ukraine.[112][113] He said Russia sought the "demilitarisation and denazification" of Ukraine, and denied the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state.[113][114] Putin said he had no plans to occupy Ukraine.[112] The invasion began within minutes of Putin's speech.[110]
Russian regular forces involved in the invasion comprised nearly 150,000 troops, organised in about 140Battalion Tactical Groups.[115] The forces of the Russia-controlled LNR and DNR, and paramilitary forces engaged in the invasion, raised total Russian-controlled forces employed in the campaign to as many as 200,000.[5]
These forces were organised into groups having tactical signs to distinguish them, and were to advance into Ukraine along at least ten different axes of advance. These groups were organised under different Russian military-district command-posts named after the region of Russia in which their respective military-district was located. Two groups commanded by the Eastern Military District were to advance on Kyiv, one group with the tactical sign "V" that was to advance on Kyiv from Belarus (i.e., from the west), and one with the tactical sign "O" that was to advance on Kyiv from the Bryansk region (i.e., from the east), with the goal of surrounding the capital between them. Three groups, all having the tactical sign "Z" and commanded by the Western Military District, were to advance into Ukraine respectively from Kursk, Belgorod and Voronezh. Groups under the Southern Military District were identified with a "Z in a square" tactical symbol, and, advancing from occupied Crimea, were tasked with surrounding Mariupol, capturing Zaporizhia, seizing Kherson, and crossing the Dnieper river to take Voznesensk.[116]
Russian regular forces involved in the invasion were equipped with roughly 2,800 tanks ready for combat, with another 400 approximately in the hands of the Russian-controlled proxy forces of the LNR and DNR.[117]
Ukrainian forces at the outbreak of the war comprised roughly 20 combat-ready brigades, of which more than half were located in the east of the country, positioned along the line of contact in the"Joint Forces Operation" zone in Donbas. An additional manoeuvre brigade and two brigades of artillery were located in the Kyiv region, with other forces also deployed in the area of Kharkiv, Dnipro, Sumy, and Odesa. No major combat units were located on the Gomel or Crimean axes.[118]
Ukrainian tank-forces had roughly 900 battle-ready tanks organised in some 30 battalions at the time of the invasion. Most of these tank battalions were formed in the period 2014–2018, when roughly 500 tanks were delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces, mostly reconditioned older tanks rather than new-built tanks, particularly T-64B and T-64-BM tanks. The tank battalions were spread between Ukraine's two regular and four reserve armoured brigades, as well as tank units attached to brigades of mechanised, mountain, airborne and marine infantry. In contrast to the direct-fire techniques practised in most armoured forces, Ukrainian forces had, based on their experience during the war in Donbas, developed a technique of using tanks in the indirect-fire role. This meant Ukrainian tank forces acting essentially as mobile artillery that did not require the kind of screening that traditional artillery units require.[117]
The invasion began at dawn on 24 February.[110][119] Fighting began in Luhansk Oblast at 3:40 a.m. Kyiv time nearMilove on the border with Russia.[120] The main infantry and tank attacks were launched in four spearheads, creating a northern front launched towards Kyiv from Belarus, a southern front from Crimea, a southeastern front from Russian-controlled Donbas, and an eastern front from Russia towardsKharkiv andSumy.[121] Russian vehicles were subsequently marked with a whiteZ military symbol (a non-Cyrillic letter), believed to be a measure to preventfriendly fire.[122]
Immediately after the invasion began, Zelenskyy declaredmartial law in Ukraine in a first video speech.[123] The same evening, he ordered ageneral mobilisation of all Ukrainian males between 18 and 60 years old,[124] prohibiting them from leaving the country.[125]Wagner Group mercenaries andKadyrovites contracted by the Kremlin reportedly madeseveral attempts to assassinate Zelenskyy, including an operation involving several hundred mercenaries meant to infiltrate Kyiv with the aim of killing the Ukrainian president.[126] The Ukrainian government said anti-war officials within Russia'sFSB shared the plans with them.[127]Zelenskyy appeared defiant invideo messages on 24 through 26 February, that he and his cabinet is still in Kyiv. On 26 February NATO met and its countries pledged military aid for Ukraine and on 27 February Germany called the invasion a historic watershed.[128] That day in the evening Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrence into alert.[129]
The Russian invasion was unexpectedly met by fierce Ukrainian resistance.[130] In Kyiv, Russia failed to take the city and was repulsed in the battles ofIrpin,Hostomel, andBucha. The Russians tried to encircle the capital, but its defenders underOleksandr Syrskyi held their ground, effectively using WesternJavelin anti-tank missiles andStinger anti-aircraft missiles to thin Russian supply lines and stall the offensive.[131]
On the southern front, Russian forces had captured the regional capital ofKherson by 2 March. A column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles wasambushed on 9 March outside ofBrovary and sustained heavy losses that forced them to retreat.[132] The Russian army adoptedsiege tactics on the western front around the key cities of Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, but failed to capture them due to stiff resistance and logistical setbacks.[133] InMykolaiv Oblast, Russian forces advanced as far asVoznesensk, but were repelled and pushed back south of Mykolaiv. On 25 March, theRussian Defence Ministry stated that the first stage of the "military operation" in Ukraine was "generally complete", that the Ukrainian military forces had suffered serious losses, and the Russian military would now concentrate on the "liberation ofDonbas."[134] The "first stage" of the invasion was conducted on four fronts, including one towards westernKyiv from Belarus by the RussianEastern Military District, comprising the29th,35th, and36th Combined Arms Armies. A second axis, deployed towards eastern Kyiv from Russia by theCentral Military District (northeastern front), comprised the41st Combined Arms Army and the2nd Guards Combined Arms Army.[135]
A third axis was deployed towards Kharkiv by theWestern Military District (eastern front), with the1st Guards Tank Army and20th Combined Arms Army. A fourth, southern front originating in occupied Crimea and Russia'sRostov oblast with an eastern axis towards Odesa and a western area of operations towardMariupol was opened by theSouthern Military District, including the58th,49th, and8th Combined Arms Army, the latter also commanding the 1st and 2nd Army Corps of theRussian separatist forces in Donbas.[135] By 7 April, Russian troops deployed to the northern front by the Russian Eastern Military District pulled back from the Kyiv offensive, reportedly to resupply and redeploy to the Donbas region in an effort to reinforce the renewed invasion of southeastern Ukraine. The northeastern front, including the Central Military District, was similarly withdrawn for resupply and redeployment to southeastern Ukraine.[135][136]
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Russian efforts to capture Kyiv included a probative spearhead on 24 February, from Belarus south along the west bank of theDnipro River. The apparent intent was to encircle the city from the west, supported by two separate axes of attack from Russia along the east bank of the Dnipro: the western atChernihiv, and from the east atSumy. These were likely intended to encircle Kyiv from the northeast and east.[137]
Russia tried to seize Kyiv quickly, withSpetsnaz infiltrating into the city supported by airborne operations and a rapid mechanised advance from the north, but failed.[138][139] The United States contacted Zelenskyy and offered to help him flee the country, lest the Russian Army attempt to kidnap or kill him on seizing Kyiv; Zelenskyy responded that "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride."[140]The Washington Post, which described the quote as "one of the most-cited lines of the Russian invasion", was not entirely sure of the comment's accuracy. ReporterGlenn Kessler said it came from "a single source, but on the surface it appears to be a good one".[141] Russian forces advancing on Kyiv from Belarusgained control of the ghost town ofChernobyl.[142]Russian Airborne Forces attempted to seize two key airfields near Kyiv, launching anairborne assault on Antonov Airport,[143] and a similarlanding at Vasylkiv, nearVasylkiv Air Base, on 26 February.[144]
By early March, further Russian advances along the west side of the Dnipro were limited, after suffering setbacks from Ukrainian defence.[137] As of 5 March,a large Russian convoy, reportedly 64 kilometres (40 mi) in length, had made little progress toward Kyiv.[145] The London-basedthink tankRoyal United Services Institute (RUSI) assessed the Russian performance from the north and east as "stalled".[146] Advances along the Chernihiv axis had largely halted as asiege of the city began. Russian forces also continued advancing from the northwest of Kyiv, capturingBucha,Hostomel, andVorzel by 5 March,[147][148] thoughIrpin remainedcontested as of 9 March.[149] By 11 March, it was reported that the lengthy convoy had largely dispersed, taking up positions that offered tree cover. Rocket launchers were also identified.[150] On 16 March, Ukrainian forces began a counter-offensive to repel Russian forces approaching Kyiv from several surrounding cities.[151]
By 20 March, the Russian military appeared to be waging a rapid invasion to achieve its apparent primary goal of the seizure of Kyiv, along with the occupation of Eastern Ukraine and the overthrow of the Ukrainian government. Russian forces quickly became stalled while approaching Kyiv due to several factors, including the disparity in morale and performance between Ukrainian and Russian forces, the Ukrainian use of sophisticated man-portable weapons provided by Western allies, poor Russian logistics and equipment performance, the failure of the Russian Air Force to achieve air superiority, and Russian military attrition during their siege of major cities.[138][152][139] Unable to achieve a quick victory in Kyiv, Russian forces switched strategies and began using standoff weapons, indiscriminate bombing, and siege warfare.[138][153][154]
On 25 March, the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kyiv resulted in several towns, includingMakariv,[155] being retaken to the east and west of Kyiv.[156] As part of a general retreat of Russian forces north of Kyiv, as well as attacks on Russian formations by the Ukrainian military, Russian troops in the Bucha area retreated north by the end of March. Ukrainian forces entered the city on 1 April.[157] Ukraine claimed to recapture the entire region around Kyiv, including Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel, by 2 April, with evidence of war crimes being uncovered inBucha.[158] On 6 April, NATO secretary generalJens Stoltenberg said that the Russian "retraction, resupply, and redeployment" of their troops from the Kyiv area should be interpreted as an expansion of Putin's plans for his military actions against Ukraine, by redeploying and concentrating his forces on Eastern Ukraine and Mariupol within the next two weeks, as a precursor to the further expansion of Putin's actions against the rest of Ukraine.[136]
Russian forces advanced intoChernihiv Oblast on 24 February, besieging its administrative capital withinfour days of fighting. On 25 FebruaryUkrainian forces lost control over Konotop.[159][160] Asstreet fighting took place in the city ofSumy, just 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Russo-Ukrainian border, Ukrainian forces claimed that on 28 February that 100 Russian armoured vehicles had been destroyed and dozens of soldiers captured following aBayraktar TB2 drone and artillery attack on a large Russiancolumn nearLebedyn inSumy Oblast.[161] Russian forcesalso attacked Okhtyrka, deployingthermobaric weapons.[162]
On 4 March,Frederick Kagan wrote that the Sumy axis was then "the most successful and dangerous Russian avenue of advance on Kyiv", and commented that the geography favoured mechanised advances as the terrain "is flat and sparsely populated, offering few good defensive positions".[137] Travelling along highways, Russian forces reachedBrovary, an eastern suburb of Kyiv, on 4 March.[137]The Pentagon confirmed on 6 April that the Russian army had leftChernihiv Oblast, butSumy Oblast remained contested.[163] On 7 April, the governor of Sumy Oblast said that Russian troops were gone, but had left behind rigged explosives and other hazards.[164]
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On 24 February, Russian forces took control of theNorth Crimean Canal, allowing Crimea to obtain water from theDnieper, which had been cut off since 2014.[165] On 26 February, thesiege of Mariupol began as the attack moved east linking to separatist-held Donbas.[162][166] En route, Russian forces enteredBerdiansk andcaptured it.[167] On 25 February, Russian units from the DPR were fighting nearPavlopil as they moved on Mariupol.[168] By evening, theRussian Navy began anamphibious assault on the coast of theSea of Azov 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Mariupol. A US defence official said that Russian forces were deploying thousands ofmarines from thisbeachhead.[169]
TheRussian 22nd Army Corps approached theZaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on 26 February[170] andbesieged Enerhodar. A fire began,[171][172] but the Ukrainian military said that essential equipment was undamaged.[173] A third Russian attack group from Crimea moved northwest and captured the bridge over the Dnieper.[174] On 2 March, Russian troops tookKherson; this was the first major city to fall to Russian forces.[175] Russian troops moved onMykolaiv andattacked it two days later. They were repelled by Ukrainian forces.[176]
After renewed missile attacks on 14 March in Mariupol, the Ukrainian government said more than 2,500 had died.[177] By 18 March, Mariupol was completely encircled and fighting reached the city centre, hampering efforts to evacuate civilians.[178] On 20 March, an art school sheltering around 400 people, wasdestroyed by Russian bombs.[179] The Russians demanded surrender, and the Ukrainians refused.[121][180] On 27 March, Ukrainian deputy prime ministerOlha Stefanishyna said that "(m)ore than 85 percent of the whole town is destroyed."[181]
Putin told Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on 29 March that the bombardment of Mariupol would only end when the Ukrainians surrendered.[182] On 1 April, Russian troops refused safe passage into Mariupol to 50 buses sent by theUnited Nations to evacuate civilians, as peace talks continued in Istanbul.[183] On 3 April, following the retreat of Russian forces from Kyiv, Russia expanded its attack on southern Ukraine further west, with bombardment and strikes against Odesa, Mykolaiv, and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.[184][185]
In the east, Russian troopsattempted to capture Kharkiv, less than 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Russian border,[186] and met strong Ukrainian resistance. On 25 February, theMillerovo air base was attacked by Ukrainian military forces withOTR-21 Tochka missiles, which according to Ukrainian officials, destroyed severalRussian Air Force planes and started a fire.[187] On 1 March,Denis Pushilin, head of the DPR, announced that DPR forces had almost completely surrounded the city ofVolnovakha.[188] On 2 March, Russian forces were repelled fromSievierodonetsk duringan attack against the city.[189] On the same day, Ukrainian forces initiateda counter-offensive onHorlivka,[190] controlled by the DPR.[191]Izium was captured by Russian forces on 1 April[192] after a monthlong battle.[193]
On 25 March, the Russian defence ministry said it would seek to occupy major cities in eastern Ukraine.[194] On 31 March,PBS News reported renewed shelling and missile attacks in Kharkiv, as bad or worse than before, as peace talks with Russia were to resume in Istanbul.[195]
Amid the heightened Russian shelling of Kharkiv on 31 March, Russia reported a helicopter strike against an oil supply depot approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of the border inBelgorod, and accused Ukraine of the attack.[196] Ukraine denied responsibility.[197] By 7 April, the renewed massing of Russian invasion troops and tank divisions around the towns of Izium,Sloviansk, andKramatorsk prompted Ukrainian government officials to advise the remaining residents near the eastern border of Ukraine to evacuate to western Ukraine within 2–3 days, given the absence of arms and munitions previously promised to Ukraine by then.[198]
On 14 March, Russian forces conducted multiplecruise missile attacks on a military training facility inYavoriv,Lviv Oblast, close to the Polish border. Local governorMaksym Kozytskyy reported that at least 35 people had been killed in the attacks.[199][200] On 18 March, Russia expanded the attack to Lviv, with Ukrainian military officials saying initial information suggested that the missiles which hit Lviv were likely air-launched cruise missiles originating from warplanes flying over the Black Sea.[201]
On 24 February, Russian forcesattacked the Chuhuiv air base,[202] which housedBayraktar TB2 drones. The attack caused damage to fuel storage areas and infrastructure.[203] The next day, theMillerovo air base was attacked by Ukrainian military forces usingOTR-21 Tochka missiles. According to Ukrainian officials, this destroyed severalRussian Air Force planes and set the airbase on fire. In theZhytomyr Airport attack on 27 February, it was reported that Russia used9K720 Iskander missile systems, located in Belarus, to attack the civilianZhytomyr Airport.[204][205] Russia lost at least ten aircraft on 5 March.[206] On 6 March, theGeneral Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that 88 Russian aircraft had been destroyed since the war began.[207] However, an anonymous senior US defence official told Reuters on 7 March that Russia still had the "vast majority" of its fighter jets and helicopters that had been amassed near Ukraine available to fly.[208] After the first month of the invasion, Justin Bronk, a British military observer, counted the Russian aircraft losses at 15 fixed-wing aircraft and 35 helicopters, but noted that the true total was certainly higher.[209]
On 13 March, Russian forces conducted multiplecruise missile attacks on amilitary training facility inYavoriv,Lviv Oblast, close to the Polish border. Local governorMaksym Kozytskyy reported that at least 35 people had been killed in the attacks.[199][200] The poor performance of the Russian Air Force has been attributed byThe Economist to Russia's inability to suppress Ukraine's medium ranged surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries, Russia's lack of precision-guided bombs, together with Ukrainian mid-range SAM sites that force planes to fly low, making them vulnerable to Stinger and other shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, and lack of training and flight hours for Russian pilots rendering them inexperienced for the type of close ground support missions typical of modern air forces.[210]
Ukraine lies on theBlack Sea, which only has access through the Turkish-heldBosphorus andDardanelles straits. On 28 February, Turkey invoked the 1936Montreux Convention and sealed off the straits to Russian warships not registered as having Black Sea home bases and not returning to their ports of origin. This prevented the passage of four Russian naval vessels through theTurkish Straits.[211][212][213]
On 24 February, theState Border Guard Service of Ukraine announced that anattack on Snake Island by Russian Navy ships had begun.[214] The cruiserMoskva and patrol boatVasily Bykov bombarded the island with their deck guns.[215] When the Russian warship identified itself and instructed the Ukrainian soldiers stationed on the island to surrender, their response was "Russian warship, go fuck yourself!"[216][217] After the bombardment, a detachment of Russian soldiers landed and took control ofSnake Island.[218]
Russia stated on 26 February that US drones were supplying intelligence to the Ukrainian navy to help target Russian warships in the Black Sea, which the US denied.[219]
By 3 March, the Ukrainian frigateHetman Sahaidachny, the flagship of the Ukrainian navy, wasscuttled in Mykolaiv to prevent its capture by Russian forces.[220][221][222] On 14 March, the Russian source RT reported that the Russian Armed Forces had captured about a dozen Ukrainian ships in Berdiansk, including thePolnocny-class landing shipYuri Olefirenko.[223] On 24 March, Ukrainian officials said that a Russianlanding ship docked in Berdiansk was destroyed by a Ukrainian rocket attack.[224][156][167]
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Military analysts have been highly critical of the Russian plan of invasion. Writing in 2024,Michael Kofman attributed the failure of the Russian invasion to "unworkable concept of operations, which did not anticipate or plan to engage an organised and sustained Ukrainian defence", and attacked the road-bound deployment of Russian forces during the invasion, as well as the excessive reliance of the invasion plan on subversion and special operations such as the airborne attack at Hostomel. Kofman also criticised the use of "thunder runs" similar to those used by US forces in the2003 Iraq war, in an environment where resistance to such attempts to go around urban centres was likely to be far higher.[225] The November 2022Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) report on the invasion also criticised the invasion plan as being based on "false assumptions", and spreading Russian forces too thinly across too many objectives, with insufficient contingency-planning for what to do if things went wrong. Netherless, RUSI also stated that "If competently executed, these plans could have succeeded".[226]
Writing in 2024 in theJournal of Strategic Studies, analysts from the Swiss Military Academy atETH Zurich characterised the invasion plan as being "predicated on a rapid, decisive overthrow of the government in Kyiv, presuming minimal resistance". They also criticised what they saw as the excessively rigid, Soviet-style command structure and operational planning of Russian forces during the invasion.[227]
Russian air forces during the campaign were described by military analyst Sean M. Wiswesser, writing in 2023 in theSmall Wars & Insurgencies journal, as having "bungled air operations from the outset of the war".[228] Wiswesser described the Russian air forces as having "settled largely for a 'tie'" during the period of the invasion.[229]
The force-structure of Russian forces during the invasion has also been criticised, particularly the use ofbattalion tactical groups (BTGs), which proved brittle once Ukrainian resistance was met. Writing in 2025, Alexander Hill, professor of military history at theUniversity of Calgary, described Russian BTGs as lacking "the requisite level of infantry (and indeed artillery) support for their armour that was being unimaginatively funnelled down relatively narrow axes of advance", and stated that Russian officers "struggled to command multiple BTGs to good effect".[230]
Whilst praising Ukraine's resistance to the invasion, analysts have also identified deficiencies in the deployment of Ukrainian forces before the invasion. According to Kofman, Ukrainian forces proved flexible in comparison to the rigid deployment of Russian forces, but Ukrainian forces were overly concentrated in the east, "leaving the capital almost completely undefended", meaning that only "[an] eleventh-hour sortie ... saved the armed forces from catastrophic losses".[225] Similarly RUSI state that the "Russian deception plan was largely successful" in drawing Ukrainian forces towards Donbas, including a failure to deploy any major units to defend the approach from the Crimea, though RUSI also note that this came at the cost of Russian troops being insufficiently briefed before the invasion. At the tactical level, however, RUSI assessed Ukrainian forces as comprising "units which had been psychologically and practically preparing for this fight for eight years".[231] Alexander Hill described Ukrainian forces as having undergone a transformation since the fighting of 2014, and having become "a stubborn opponent that was typically difficult [for Russian troops] to dislodge".[232]
Russia abandoned theattempt to take Kyiv in early April, but a lasting state of war between Russia and Ukraine remained, with Russia capturingMariupol by 20 May 2022,[233] and maintaining an occupation of large portions of fourUkrainian oblasts—Donetsk,Kherson,Luhansk, andZaporizhzhia. In August, Ukrainian forces began liberating territories in thenorth-east andsouth.
On 30 September 2022,Russia declared theannexation of the four partially-occupied oblasts, which wasinternationally condemned. Most of Luhansk Oblast and part of Donetsk Oblast had been controlled bypro-Russian separatists since 2014, while the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts were invaded by Russia in 2022. The boundaries of the areas to be annexed and their borders were not defined; Russian officials stated that they would be defined later. None of the oblasts were fully under Russian control at the time of the declaration, nor since. If limited to the areas then under Russian control (about 90,000 km2 or 15% ofUkraine's territory, roughly the size ofPortugal) the annexation would still be the largest in Europe sinceWorld War II.[234] In other respects as well—in terms of the scale and intensity of hostilities,[235] and the number of casualties[236]—after the invasion, the war became the biggest war in Europe since World War II.[237]
From then through 2023, Russian offensives and Ukrainian counteroffensives gained only small amounts of territory. The war has also led toattacks in Russia by Ukrainian and Ukrainian-backed forces, among them a cross-borderoffensive into Russia's Kursk region in August 2024. Russia has repeatedly carried out deliberate and indiscriminateattacks on civilians far from the frontline.[238][239][240] TheInternational Criminal Court (ICC) openedan investigation intowar crimes and issuedarrest warrants for Putin and several other Russian officials.
The invasion received widespread international condemnation fromgovernments and intergovernmental organisations.[241] On 2 March 2022 and on 23 February 2023, 141member states of theUN General Assembly voted for a resolution saying that Russia should immediately withdraw. Seven, including Russia, voted against the measure.[242] Political reactions to the invasion includednew sanctions imposed on Russia, which triggeredwidespread economic effects on the Russian and world economies.[243] Sanctions forced Russia to reorient its oil exports to non-sanctioning countries such as India, rely more onLNG (which was not subject to European Union sanctions), and shift its coal exports from Europe to Asia.[244] Most European countries cancelled nuclear cooperation with Russia.[245]
Over seventy sovereign states and the European Union deliveredhumanitarian aid to Ukraine, and nearly fifty countries plus the EU providedmilitary aid.[246] Economic sanctions included a ban on Russian aircraft using EU airspace,[247] aban of certain Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system, and a ban on certain Russian media outlets.[248] Reactions to the invasion have included public response, media responses,peace efforts, and the examination of thelegal implications of the invasion.
Some countries, particularly in theGlobal South, saw public sympathy or outright support for Russia, due in part to distrust ofUS foreign policy.[249] Protests and demonstrations were held worldwide, including somein Russia andparts of Ukraine occupied by Russia.[250] Calls fora boycott of Russian goods spread on social media platforms,[251] while hackers attacked Russian websites, particularly those operated by the Russian government.[252]Anti-Russian sentiment against Russians living abroad surged after the invasion.[253] In March 2022, Russian's parliament introducedprison sentences of up to 15 years for publishing "fake news" about Russian military operations,[254] intended to suppress any criticism related to the war.[255]
From this perspective, the Russia-Ukraine War consists of a "special military operation", in which Russian forces attempted to conduct acoup de main by decapitating Ukraine's leadership, isolating Ukrainian forces, and rapidly occupying the country. This operation can be periodized to February 24–March 25, 2022, by which point Russian forces are already withdrawing from Kyiv and beginning to redeploy for a more conventional campaign in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
[B]ottom line is the 'Z' markings (and others like it) are a deconfliction measure to help prevent friendly fire incidents.
On Sunday ... "There is no invasion. There is no such plans," Antonov said.
Nov. 28 – ... 'Russia has never hatched, is not hatching and will never hatch any plans to attack anyone,' Peskov said. ... 19 Jan – ... Ryabkov ... 'We do not want and will not take any action of aggressive character. We will not attack, strike, invade, quote unquote, whatever Ukraine.'
Zmejevský ... 'Důrazně jsme odmítli jako nepodložená obvinění Ruska z přípravy, agrese vůči Ukrajině a fámy o vstupu ruských jednotek na ukrajinské území,' stojí v něm.[Zmeevsky ... 'We emphatically dismissed Russia's allegations of preparation, aggression against Ukraine and rumors of Russian troops entering Ukrainian territory,' he said.]
Historically speaking, the idea that a dictator in another country decides who is a nation and who is not is known as imperialism.
Putin's original plan — to take Kyiv in three days — was thwarted by the fierce resistance of the Ukrainians and by western support for Kyiv. Now we are seeing plan B, formed in response to developments on the ground.Alt URL
On Wednesday, Ukraine's security service posted a video of a captured Russian soldier who says he and his unit were sent across the border with only three days' food. 'Putin expected to capture Ukraine in three days,' Ukraine's security service wrote above the video, which could not be independently verified. 'By the order of the top Russian leadership, the phones and documents were taken from the fire brigades, removed food and water for three days and sent to war with Ukraine,' the agency said, according to the English translation of the post.
More than 400 Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group were reported to have been in Kyiv in February 2022 with orders to kill Zelenskiy as part of a "decapitation strategy".
Mr. Putin's claim to more than 15 per cent of Ukraine's territory is the largest annexation in Europe since the Second World War.
On February 24, 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, expanding dramatically the war against Ukraine he began in 2014 and starting the largest war in Europe since World War II.
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