Russo-Ukrainian war

The **Russo&ndash;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. 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.

## Notes
## References