The Russia-Ukraine War

Protests erupted in Kyiv after President Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for an association agreement with the European Union, opting instead for closer ties with Russia. The movement, dubbed "Euromaidan," grew into a broader pro-Western and anti-government uprising. In February 2014, security forces killed dozens of protesters, and Yanukovych fled to Russia, marking a decisive rupture in Ukraine-Russia relations.

Following Yanukovych's ouster, Russian forces without insignia ("little green men") seized control of Crimea. Russia held a widely condemned referendum and formally annexed the peninsula. The international community, including the UN General Assembly, declared the annexation illegal. The EU and U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia. This was the first forcible territorial annexation in Europe since World War II.

Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independent "people's republics," backed by Russian military support. Armed conflict between Ukrainian forces and separatists continued for eight years, despite the Minsk I (2014) and Minsk II (2015) ceasefire agreements, which were never fully implemented. Over 14,000 people were killed before the 2022 escalation.

Russia began a massive military buildup near Ukraine's borders, deploying over 100,000 troops. Russian officials denied invasion plans and demanded security guarantees from NATO, including a pledge never to admit Ukraine. The U.S. and allies shared intelligence predicting an invasion, while Russia issued ultimatums. Diplomatic talks in January 2022 failed to produce any breakthroughs.

Russian forces invaded Ukraine from multiple fronts — north from Belarus toward Kyiv, east from Russia, and south from Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" aimed at "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declined evacuation offers, stating "I need ammunition, not a ride." The initial assault on Kyiv was repelled within weeks.

The U.S. and European allies provided unprecedented military aid to Ukraine, including Javelin and Stinger missiles, HIMARS rocket systems, tanks, air defense systems, and training. Total U.S. aid exceeded $60 billion by 2024. The aid sustained Ukraine's war effort but became politically contentious, with some U.S. Republicans questioning the spending. EU members also sent significant aid and accepted millions of Ukrainian refugees.

After Russian forces withdrew from the Kyiv region, Ukrainian forces and journalists discovered mass graves and evidence of executions of civilians in Bucha and other suburbs. Bodies were found in streets, some with hands bound. The discoveries prompted international condemnation and accusations of war crimes. Russia denied responsibility, calling the images staged, a claim rejected by independent investigators.

Russian forces besieged the port city of Mariupol for nearly three months, devastating the city with artillery bombardment. An estimated 20,000+ civilians were killed. Ukrainian defenders held out in the Azovstal steel plant before surrendering in May 2022. The siege became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance but also of the war's devastating civilian toll. A March airstrike on a maternity hospital drew global outrage.

Ukrainian forces recaptured the city of Kherson, the only regional capital Russia had seized since the February invasion. Russian forces withdrew across the Dnipro River after a months-long counteroffensive. The liberation was celebrated as a major Ukrainian victory, though Russian forces continued shelling the city from the opposite bank. The earlier annexation of Kherson by Russia in September 2022 had been widely condemned.

Ukraine launched a much-anticipated counteroffensive against heavily fortified Russian lines in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. The offensive made limited gains against dense Russian minefields and defensive positions. Western officials acknowledged the counteroffensive fell short of expectations. The stalemate led to growing debate about the war's trajectory and the sustainability of Western support.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group mercenary force, launched an armed mutiny against Russia's military leadership, seizing the city of Rostov-on-Don and marching toward Moscow. The rebellion was abruptly halted after Belarusian mediation. Prigozhin died in a mysterious plane crash on August 23, 2023. The mutiny exposed fractures within Russia's war effort and challenged Putin's authority.

The war caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II, with over 6 million Ukrainians fleeing abroad and millions more internally displaced. Estimates of casualties varied, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties on both sides. The destruction of infrastructure, including the Kakhovka Dam collapse in June 2023, caused environmental and economic devastation. Reconstruction costs were estimated at over $400 billion.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast, seizing territory and taking Russian prisoners. It was the first capture of Russian territory by a foreign power since World War II. The operation aimed to divert Russian forces from eastern Ukraine and provide leverage for future negotiations. Russia eventually launched counterattacks to retake the territory.

In early 2025, renewed diplomatic efforts emerged for a negotiated settlement, with both sides signaling flexibility on certain terms. Ukraine sought security guarantees and territorial integrity; Russia demanded recognition of its annexations and Ukrainian neutrality. Previous peace talks in Istanbul (2022) had collapsed. The war settled into a grinding war of attrition along fortified frontlines, with neither side able to achieve a decisive military breakthrough.

Ukraine conducted a major coordinated strike on Russia's Novorossiysk naval base in Krasnodar Krai, using 15 domestically produced weapons including aerial drones, Neptune missiles, and maritime unmanned systems. The attack damaged four Russian warships: two Project 11356 frigates (Admiral Makarov and Admiral Essen), a Project 21631 Buyan-M missile ship, and a Project 22160 Vasily Bykov patrol ship. The strike also targeted an S-300 radar system, oil depot infrastructure, and port facilities, temporarily halting operations at grain terminals. Zelensky confirmed Ukraine used 15 domestically produced weapons in the operation, marking one of the largest coordinated strikes on the Black Sea Fleet since the beginning of the war.

Russia launched a massive overnight strike on Kyiv and surrounding regions, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens more. The attack damaged a hospital, a school, a preschool, residential buildings, and warehouses across the capital. The strikes also spilled into NATO member Romania, where an explosive-laden Russian naval drone targeted an offshore natural gas facility — intercepted by Romanian F-16 fighter jets. Russian drones also crashed on Moldovan territory. Ukrainian President Zelensky stated that Russia had combined cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones in a coordinated attack exploiting Ukraine's critically low stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles, which were at just 10 percent of what the country needs. The attack drew sharp international condemnation, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling the naval drone an example of hybrid warfare.

Location: Kyiv, Ukraine; Romania; Moldova

Ukrainian intelligence confirmed that North Korea sent an additional wave of troops to Russia, including 400 drone operators capable of conducting both reconnaissance and attacks on Ukrainian targets. The total number of North Korean personnel in Russia reached 8,500, mostly deployed in Russia's Kursk region, including 1,000 engineers and deminers. Separately, Russia began deploying six launchers for North Korean ballistic missiles in the Voronezh region — capable of launching up to 120 KN-23, KN-24, and upgraded KN-30 missiles. These missiles, carrying warheads up to 2,500 kilograms, can strike seven Ukrainian regions: Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russia may request up to 50,000 additional North Korean troops during a planned September meeting between Putin and Kim Jong Un. The deepening Russia-North Korea military alliance has broadened the international dimensions of the war.

Location: Kursk and Voronezh regions, Russia

On August 28-29, 2026, Russian forces carried out the war's longest sustained air assault: a combined drone and missile strike series against Kyiv and its surroundings that lasted more than 28 hours, with the Ukrainian Air Force reporting over 550 loitering munitions and Shahed-type drones launched. A drone strike on an ammunition storage facility near the village of Myla, west of Kyiv, triggered chain detonations and a large fire, killing at least 38 people including two children, among them the head of the local Dmytrivka community. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately maximizing civilian harm, while Russian officials framed the barrage as the response to Ukraine's strikes on Russian territory. The assault unfolded as Black Sea ceasefire diplomacy remained stalled, with Kyiv pushing for a resumption of talks with US participation in September.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met President Putin at the Kremlin on September 5, then traveled to Kyiv on September 6 for their first visit to Ukraine, holding talks with President Zelensky and pushing for a return to trilateral US-Russia-Ukraine negotiations. To facilitate the diplomacy, Zelensky ordered a halt to attacks on Moscow from September 5 to 8, while Putin ordered a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv from midnight September 6. Putin rejected a broader frontline ceasefire proposed by Ukraine during the visit, and aides said he remained committed to achieving Russia's war aims by military means. The temporary halt followed the collapse of the previous US-brokered round in February, amid an escalating mutual air-war campaign.

The European Commission approved Ukraine's request to procure around 1,000 missiles for Patriot air defense systems under the EU Ukraine Support Loan. Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara announced the contracts at a Ramstein-format meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which he attended for the first time alongside Commander-in-Chief. Germany separately announced the transfer of PAC-2 interceptor missiles from Bundeswehr stocks. The deal came as Russian drone and missile strikes continued against Kyiv and other cities, and as Ukrainian officials warned of persistent air-defense ammunition shortfalls.

Ukraine's military explicitly confirmed counteroffensive operations against the Russian salient northwest of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast, part of a broader push that also counterattacked in the Kupyansk and Oleksandrivka directions. The Institute for the Study of War assessed that Ukrainian operations had reduced Russia's net territorial gains since March 2026 to nearly zero, holding Russian forces to marginal advances for over six months. Ukrainian gains north of Lyman were assessed to have rendered infeasible Russia's plan to encircle the Donbas 'Fortress Belt' and to delay its offensive toward Slovyansk -- an assessment echoed by prominent Kremlin-affiliated milbloggers. The campaign marked a shift in the war's momentum after Russia's earlier 2026 offensives.

The European Commission disbursed 3.3 billion euros to Ukraine for the procurement of missiles and drones, part of the 90 billion euro Ukraine Support Loan, as Russia intensified its strikes on Ukrainian cities. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the disbursement on September 17 and said Brussels was preparing a new joint defence projects programme focused on air defense, adding that 'more is coming.' The package reflected Europe's accelerating assumption of the war's financial burden amid contested U.S. diplomatic engagement.