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Ukraine–Russia

Active UkraineRussia since 2022-02-24

Understand

The Russo-Ukrainian war began in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and Russian-backed armed groups seized parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the Donbas. On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion from the north, east and south, including an advance on Kyiv. Russian forces withdrew from the Kyiv region by early April 2022 and concentrated on eastern and southern Ukraine. The war is the largest and deadliest in Europe since the Second World War.

Russia says its aims include preventing NATO expansion, protecting Russian speakers, and the "demilitarization" and "denazification" of Ukraine. In September 2026, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia's position had not fundamentally changed since the war began. Ukraine says it is defending its sovereignty and its internationally recognized borders, which include Crimea. On September 30, 2022, Russia proclaimed the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, none of which it fully controlled. The UN General Assembly declared the annexation invalid in October 2022.

Ukraine retook most of Kharkiv oblast in September 2022 and the city of Kherson on November 11, 2022. The front then settled into attritional fighting. Russian forces took Bakhmut in May 2023, Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive in the south did not break through, and Russia took Avdiivka in early 2024. In August 2024, Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast. North Korean troops deployed there to support Russia from November 2024, and most Ukrainian forces had been pushed out by March 2025.

Drones now dominate the battlefield, from short-range strike drones over the front to long-range systems that reach deep into both countries. Russia attacks Ukrainian cities, energy infrastructure and transport with missiles and drones. Ukraine strikes Russian oil refineries, military plants, airbases and ships with domestically produced drones and missiles. European states and the United States supply Ukraine with air defense, weapons and financing. Russia has drawn on North Korean troops and munitions.

Since 2025 the United States under President Donald Trump has led efforts to broker a settlement. Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on August 15, 2025 without agreeing a ceasefire. The central dispute is territory: Russia demands that Ukraine withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still holds, and Ukraine refuses. Security guarantees for Ukraine and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are also unresolved.

Parties

  • Ukraine Defending its internationally recognized territory; holds western Donetsk oblast and has run counteroffensives in the south and near Lyman in 2026.
  • Russia Invaded in February 2022, occupies about a fifth of Ukraine and seeks the rest of the Donbas.
  • North Korea Backs Russia and sent troops to fight in Kursk Oblast from November 2024.
  • United States Leads mediation through envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and approves arms sales to Ukraine.
  • European states Britain, France, Germany and other EU members supply Ukraine with weapons and financing and join talks as advisers.

Analysis

As of early October 2026, Russia occupies roughly a fifth of Ukraine, including all of Luhansk oblast and most of Donetsk oblast. Over the winter of 2025-26 Russian forces took Siversk, Huliaipole, Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. Russia said on July 3, 2026 that it had captured Kostiantynivka; Ukraine rejected the claim and fighting inside the city continued. Russia's stated goal is the rest of Donetsk oblast, including the fortified cities of Kramatorsk, Sloviansk and Druzhkivka. In late September 2026, Ukraine's General Staff reported the heaviest Russian assaults on the Kostiantynivka and Pokrovsk axes.

Ukraine has regained ground in 2026. A counteroffensive that began on February 11 in the south retook villages in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. On September 15, Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps confirmed Operation Vivaldi north of Lyman, which retook Serednie and other villages and removed a Russian salient threatening Sloviansk from the north. By net area, Russia lost more ground than it took in September 2026. Russian forces still advanced in places, taking Mala Tokmachka and pushing toward Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia oblast. Ukraine's General Staff says Russia lost 46,320 troops killed and wounded in September, its highest monthly figure of 2026.

The long-range strike war has intensified. More civilians were killed and injured in Ukraine in the first eight months of 2026 than in all of 2025, mostly by missiles and drones. Russia launched a large-scale attack on the power grid on September 30, and on October 1-3 struck Kyiv's Southern and Northern bridges over the Dnipro for the first time, forcing closures. Russia says the bridges carry troops and military supplies. Ukraine has hit refineries in Syzran, Ryazan, Saratov and, on October 2, the Volgograd and Samara regions. Zelensky said on October 1 that Ukraine had used its FP-7 ballistic missile in combat for the first time.

Diplomacy has produced prisoner exchanges and short truces but no settlement. US-brokered trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on January 23-24 and February 4-5, 2026, and in Geneva on February 17-18, ended without agreement on territory. A 32-hour Orthodox Easter truce in April and a three-day Victory Day truce in May were each marred by mutual accusations of violations. After a pause of about six months, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Putin in Moscow on September 5 and Zelensky in Kyiv on September 6. Zelensky said territory can only be settled by leaders and that the war was likely to continue into winter.

What to watch

  • Whether Russian assaults around Kostiantynivka and toward Druzhkivka and Kramatorsk gain ground before winter.
  • Whether Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi near Lyman and its southern counterattacks hold or extend their gains.
  • Whether Russian strikes on Kyiv's bridges and the power grid widen through the heating season.
  • Whether Ukrainian strikes on refineries further disrupt Russian fuel output and exports.
  • Whether US-mediated talks resume after the September envoy visits, including any mutual halt to energy strikes.

Data

Parties
Ukraine vs Russia
Began
February 24, 2022 (full-scale invasion); conflict since 2014
Front line
About 1,200 km (750 miles) of active front
Territory occupied
Roughly 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea, all of Luhansk and most of Donetsk oblast
Civilians killed
UN OHCHR: at least 16,431 killed and 48,613 injured, verified February 2022 to June 2026
Displaced
UNHCR: 5.9 million refugees abroad and 3.7 million internally displaced (February 2026)
Humanitarian need
UN: 10.8 million people in need of assistance in 2026

Territorial control for this theatre is derived from openly licensed settlement-control data and rebuilt daily (3 snapshots held). Download: control.json (GeoJSON inside; CC BY-SA 4.0).

Timeline

  1. 2014-03Russia annexes Crimea; fighting with Russian-backed groups in the Donbas follows.
  2. 2022-02-24Russia launches a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
  3. 2022-09-30Russia proclaims the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts.
  4. 2023-05-20Russia's Wagner group claims the capture of Bakhmut after a months-long battle.
  5. 2024-08-06Ukraine launches a cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast.
  6. 2025-03-12Russian troops enter Sudzha as most Ukrainian forces withdraw from Kursk Oblast.
  7. 2025-08-15Trump and Putin meet in Alaska without agreeing a ceasefire.
  8. 2026-01-23US, Ukrainian and Russian delegations open their first trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi.
  9. 2026-02-11Ukraine begins a counteroffensive in the south that regains ground in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
  10. 2026-05-09A three-day Victory Day truce begins, paired with a large prisoner exchange.
  11. 2026-07-03Russia says it has captured Kostiantynivka; Ukraine rejects the claim.
  12. 2026-09-05US envoys Witkoff and Kushner meet Putin in Moscow, then Zelensky in Kyiv the next day.
  13. 2026-09-15Ukraine confirms Operation Vivaldi, a counteroffensive north of Lyman in Donetsk oblast.
  14. 2026-10-02Russian strikes force the closure of Dnipro bridges in Kyiv for the first time in the war.

Live events, aircraft and thermal anomalies for every theatre are published as GeoJSON on the data endpoints page.