# Russo-Ukrainian war

| Russo-Ukrainian War |
| --- |
| **Clockwise from top left**:
* Ukrainian troops during the war in Donbas, 2014
* Russian T-64 tank with Z markings, 2022
* Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic forces, 2015
* Residential building damaged by a Russian missile in Avdiivka, 2023
* Destroyed vehicles after the battle of Bucha, 2022
* Civilian killed after Russian missile strikes on Kyiv, 2022
 |
|

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Date | Late February 2014 – present (12 years, 4 months and 3 days) |
| Location | Ukraine, Russia, and Black Sea (spillover into Romania, Poland, Moldova, and Belarus) |
| Status |
Ongoing |
| Territorial changes | * Russian annexation of Crimea and parts of four southeast Ukrainian oblasts in 2014 and 2022, respectively
* Russian occupation of more than 18% of Ukrainian territory as of March 2024
* Ukrainian occupation of parts of Russia's Kursk Oblast since 2024
 |

 |
| Belligerents |
| * Russia (2014, since 2022 directly)
	+ Donetsk PR
	+ Luhansk PR
	+ Chechnya (since 2022)
 |  Ukraine

**Supplied by: NATO
 |
| Commanders and leaders |
| **Russia Vladimir Putin
* Sergei Shoigu
* Valery Gerasimov
* Yevgeny Prigozhin (2014–2023)
* Alexander Zakharchenko (2014–2018)
* Denis Pushilin (2018–present)
* Pavel Gubarev (2014)
* Igor Girkin (2014)
* Leonid Pasechnik (2017–present)
* Igor Plotnitsky (2014–2017)
* Valery Bolotov (2014)
 | **Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (2019–present)
* Petro Poroshenko (2014–2019)
* Oleksandr Turchynov (acting; 2014)
* Andrii Zahorodniuk (2019–2020)
* Stepan Poltorak (2014–2019)
* Valeriy Heletey (2014)
* Ihor Tenyukh (2014)
* Oleksandr Syrskyi (2024–present)
* Valerii Zaluzhnyi (2021–2024)
* Ruslan Khomchak (2019–2021)
 |
| Casualties and losses |
|
From hundreds of thousands to more than two millions, reports vary widely. |

The **Russo–Ukrainian war** is a ongoing conflict currently taking place between Russia and Ukraine that began in February 2014.It started when Russia annexed Crimea and supported pro-Russian separatist militant groups in the Donbas region leading to Donbas War. It then escalated in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and currently occupies most of and has officially annexed Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Donetsk Oblast, Luhansk Oblast, and Kherson Oblast. It is the largest conflict since World War II. The war resulted in hundreds and thousands of attacks.

## History

### War in Donbas

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. The fighting slowed down and became a frozen conflict.

### 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.

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*. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. As of 2025 the frontlines are a stalemate with Ukraine winning the war of attrition. 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.

## Related pages

* List of ongoing armed conflicts
* 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
* The Long Breakup, a film about the relationship between Ukraine and Russia.