The 

Russo-Ukrainian War[18][d] is an ongoing war between Russia (together with pro-Russian separatist

forces) and Ukraine.[e] It began in February 2014 following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, and
initially focused on the status of Crimea and the Donbas, internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.
The first eight years of the conflict included the Russian annexation of Crimea (2014) and the war in
Donbas (2014–present) between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists, as well as naval
incidents, cyberwarfare, and political tensions. Following a Russian military build-up on the Russia–
Ukraine border from late 2021, the conflict expanded significantly when Russia launched a full-scale
invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

Following the Euromaidan protests and a revolution resulting in the removal of pro-Russian

President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, pro-Russian unrest erupted in parts of Ukraine.
Russian soldiers without insignia took control of strategic positions and infrastructure in the Ukrainian
territory of Crimea, and seized the Crimean Parliament. Russia organized a controversial referendum,
whose outcome was for Crimea to join Russia. This led to the annexation of Crimea. In April 2014,
demonstrations by pro-Russian groups in the Donbas region of Ukraine escalated into a war between
the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists of the self-
declared Donetsk and Luhansk republics.

In August 2014, unmarked Russian military vehicles crossed the border[19] into the Donetsk republic. An
undeclared war began between Ukrainian forces on one side, and separatists intermingled with Russian
troops on the other, although Russia attempted to hide its involvement. The war settled into a static
conflict, with repeated failed attempts at a ceasefire. In 2015, the Minsk II agreements were signed by
Russia and Ukraine, but a number of disputes prevented them being fully implemented. By 2019, 7% of
Ukraine was classified by the Ukrainian government as temporarily occupied territories.

In 2021 and early 2022, there was a major Russian military build-up around Ukraine's
borders. NATO accused Russia of planning an invasion, which it denied. Russian President Vladimir
Putin criticized the enlargement of NATO as a threat to his country and demanded Ukraine be barred
from ever joining the military alliance. He also expressed Russian irredentist views, questioned
Ukraine's right to exist, and wrongfully stated that Ukraine was established by Vladimir Lenin.[20] On 21
February 2022, Russia officially recognised the two self-proclaimed separatist states in the Donbas, and
openly sent troops into the territories. Three days later, Russia invaded Ukraine. Much of the
international community has condemned Russia for its actions in post-revolutionary Ukraine, accusing it
of breaking international law and violating Ukrainian sovereignty. Many countries
implemented economic sanctions against Russia, Russian individuals, or companies,[21] especially after
the 2022 invasion.

round

See also: Historical background of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine

Post-Soviet context and Orange Revolution

Further information: Orange Revolution

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991, Ukraine and Russia maintained close ties. In
1994, Ukraine agreed to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-
nuclear-weapon state.[22] Former Soviet nuclear weapons in Ukraine were removed and dismantled.[23] In
return, Russia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) agreed to uphold the territorial
integrity and political independence of Ukraine through the Budapest Memorandum on Security
Assurances.[24][25] In 1999, Russia was one of the signatories of the Charter for European Security, which
"reaffirmed the inherent right of each and every participating State to be free to choose or change its
security arrangements, including treaties of alliance, as they evolve."[26] In the years after the dissolution
of the USSR, several former Eastern Bloc countries joined NATO, partly in response to regional security
threats involving Russia such as the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)
and the First Chechen War (1994–1996). Russian leaders described this expansion as a violation
of Western powers' informal assurances that NATO would not expand eastward.[27][28]

The 2004 Ukrainian presidential election was controversial. During the election campaign, opposition
Russian bases in Crimea

Main article: Political status of Crimea

At the onset of the conflict, Russia had roughly 12,000 military personnel in the Black Sea Fleet,[52] in
several locations in the Crimean peninsula like Sevastopol, Kacha, Hvardiiske, Simferopol Raion, Sarych,
and others. In 2005 a dispute broke out over control of the Sarych cape lighthouse near Yalta, and a
number of other beacons.[56][57] Russian presence was allowed by the basing and transit agreement with
Ukraine. Under the agreements the Russian military in Crimea was constrained to a maximum of 25,000
troops, required to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine, honor its legislation and to not interfere in the
internal affairs of the country, and to show their "military identification cards" when crossing the
international border. Operations beyond designated deployment sites were permitted only after
coordination with the competent agencies of Ukraine.[58] Early in the conflict, the agreement's sizeable
troop limit allowed Russia to significantly reinforce its military presence under the plausible guise of
security concerns, deploy special forces and other required capabilities to conduct the operation in
Crimea.[52]

According to the original treaty on the division of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet signed in 1997, Russia was
allowed to have its military bases in Crimea until 2017, after which it would evacuate all military units
including its portion of the Black Sea Fleet out of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. A
Russian construction project to re-home the fleet in Novorossiysk launched in 2005 and was expected to
be fully completed by 2020; as of 2010, the project faced major budget cuts and construction delays.[59]
[when?]
 On 21 April 2010, former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych signed a new deal known as
the Kharkiv Pact, to resolve the 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute; it extended the stay to 2042 with an
option to renew, and in return obtained some discounts on gas delivered from Russia.[60]

The Kharkiv Pact was an update to a complex of several fundamental treaties signed in the 1990s
between the prime ministers of both countries Viktor Chernomyrdin (Russia) and Pavlo
Lazarenko (Ukraine), and presidents Boris Yeltsin (Russia) and Leonid Kuchma (Ukraine).[61][62][63][64][non-primary
source needed]
 The Constitution of Ukraine, whilst generally prohibiting the deployment of foreign bases on
the country's soil, originally also had a transitional provision, which allowed the use of existing military
bases on the territory of Ukraine for the temporary stationing of foreign military formations; this
permitted Russian military to keep its basing in Crimea as an "existing military base". The constitutional
provision on "[pre]-existing bases" was revoked in 2019, after Russia had already annexed Crimea and
withdrawn from the basing treaties unilaterally.[65]

Russo-Ukrainian declaration of military operations

No formal declaration of war has been issued in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. When the Kremlin
announced the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, it claimed to commence a "special military operation",
side-stepping a formal declaration of war.[66] The statement was, however, regarded as a declaration of
war by the Ukrainian government[67] and reported as such by many international news sources.[68]
[69]
 While the Ukrainian parliament refers to Russia as a "terrorist state" in regards to its military actions
in Ukraine,[70] it has not issued a formal declaration of war on its behalf.

History

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