Russian Invasion of Ukraine
February 24, 2022 - present
After months of threats, Russia launched a full, unprovoked invasion of its neighbor Ukraine on February 24, 2022, extending the earlier invasion begun in 2014. On the false pretexts of safeguarding its own security from NATO expansion and countering Ukrainian radicals, Russia initiated the largest ground war in Europe in decades.
The initial phase of the war proved catastrophic. While large areas of southern and eastern Ukraine were quickly occupied by Russian soldiers, territory around Kyiv in particular proved harder to control. Russia withdrew from the Kyiv area at the end of March, after barely a month, revealing ghastly war crimes and the summary executions of hundreds of innocent civilians.
Over more than three years of fighting, hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been killed along with many thousands of civilians. The death toll in many occupied areas may never be known.
Despite initial stumbles, Russian forces have adapted to Ukraine’s resistance and the war carries on across a frontline extending roughly six hundred miles through the country’s south and east, controlling roughly 19% of Ukraine’s territory. While diplomatic efforts to implement a ceasefire and eventual end to the war have taken on a new energy under the Trump administration, there is little change in the reality on the ground. Drones, bombs, and missiles terrorize civilians throughout the country on a daily basis.
