Russian Invasion of Ukraine
February 24, 2022 - present
After months of buildup and half-hearted attempts at diplomacy, 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, revealing ghastly war crimes and the summary executions of hundreds of innocent civilians. Tens of thousands of civilians elsewhere, an equal number of Russian soldiers, and untold Ukrainian service members have died.
Despite worldwide condemnation of Russia’s actions and the country’s increasing isolation, the war carries on in Ukraine’s south and east.
