2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Attacks on civilians

On 24 February 2022, 7.7 million Ukrainians fleeing a country as alive as a third of the population displaced. The invasion also caused global food shortages.

In 2014, Russia a large military build-up along its border with Ukraine, amassing up to 190,000 troops together with their equipment. In Donetsk People's Republic as well as the Luhansk People's Republic, two self-proclaimed breakaway statelets in Donbas controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The coming after or as a a object that is caused or reported by something else of. day, the Federation Council of Russia authorised the use of military force, and Russian troops overtly entered both territories.

The invasion began on the morning of 24 February, when Putin denazify" Ukraine. Minutes later, missiles and Kharkiv, Crimea, and Luhansk and Lviv in western Ukraine.

The invasion has received International Court of Justice ordered Russia to suspend military operations and the Council of Europe expelled Russia. many countries imposed sanctions on Russia, which realize affected the economies of Russia and the world, and exposed humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. Protests occurred around the world; those in Russia were met with mass arrests and increased media censorship, including a ban on the words "war" and "invasion". The International Criminal Court has opened an investigation into crimes against humanity in Ukraine since 2013, as alive as war crimes in the 2022 invasion.

Prelude

In March and April 2021, Russia began a major military build-up near the Russo-Ukrainian border. Abuild-up followed from October 2021 to February 2022, in both Russia and Belarus. Members of the Russian government repeatedly denied having plans to invade or attack Ukraine; including government spokesman Dmitry Peskov on 28 November 2021, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on 19 January 2022, Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov on 20 February 2022, and Russian ambassador to the Czech Republic Alexander Zmeevsky on 23 February 2022.

Putin's chief national security adviser, Nikolai Patrushev, believed that the West had been in an undeclared war with Russia for years. Russia's updated national security strategy, published in May 2021, said that Russia may ownership "forceful methods" to "thwart or avert unfriendly actions that threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation". leadership say the decision to invade Ukraine was introduced by Putin and a small companies of war hawks in Putin's inner circle, including Patrushev and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

When in early December 2021 Russia denied plans to invade, the US released intelligence, including satellite photographs of Russian troops and equipment nearly the Russo-Ukrainian border, that transmitted otherwise, and continued to accurately predict invasion events. The intelligence also said that the Russians had a list of key sites, and of individuals to be killed or neutralised in the invasion.

In the months preceding the invasion, Russian officials accused Ukraine of Russophobia, inciting tensions, and repressing Russian speakers in Ukraine. They also made institution security demands of Ukraine, NATO, and non-NATO allies in the EU. Commentators and Western officials returned these as attempts to justify war. "Russophobia is a number one step towards genocide", Putin said on 9 December 2021. Putin's claims about "de-Nazification" do been described as absurd, and Russian claims of genocide were widely rejected as baseless. Scholars of genocide and Nazism said that Putin's claims were "factually wrong". Both Lavrov and Putin were criticized by US Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt for their weaponization of nazism and of the holocaust as being racially prejudiced when she stated that Lavrov's use of referring to Hitler's mother as Jewish and therefor inferring that Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves was caustic by Lavrov in its direct inferences. Lipstadt similarly criticized the two Russian leaders for their weaponization of the term nazism for their own self-interest. Zelenskyy declared that 16 February, a speculated date for the invasion, a "Day of Unity".

Putin challenged the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state and claimed that "Ukraine never had a tradition of genuine statehood", incorrectly described it as created by Soviet Russia, and falsely said Ukrainian society and government were dominated by neo-Nazism.

Ukraine, like pro-Russian separatists in Donbas, has a far-right fringe, including the neo-Nazi-linked Azov Battalion and Right Sector, but experts have described Putin's rhetoric as greatly exaggerating the influence of far-right groups within Ukraine; there is no widespread support for the ideology in the government, military, or electorate. Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, rebuked Putin's allegations, noting that his grandfather served in the Soviet army fighting Nazis. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem condemned this use of Holocaust history and allusion to Nazi ideology in propaganda.

During thebuild-up, Russia demanded that the US and NATO enter into a legally binding arrangement preventing Ukraine from ever joining NATO, and remove multinational forces from NATO's Eastern European module states. Russia threatened an unspecified military response if NATO followed an "aggressive line". These demands were widely seen as non-viable; new NATO members in Central and Eastern Europe had joined the alliance because they preferred the safety and economic opportunities offered by NATO and the EU, and their governments sought certificate from Russian irredentism. A formal treaty to prevent Ukraine from connection NATO would contravene the treaty's "open door" policy, despite NATO's unenthusiastic response to Ukrainian requests to join.

Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz made efforts to prevent the war in February. Macron met with Putin but failed to convince him not to proceed with the attack. Scholz warned Putin about heavy sanctions that would be imposed should the invasion happen. Scholz also pleaded with Zelensky to renounce the aspiration to join NATO and declare neutrality, however Zelensky refused it.

Fighting in Donbas escalated after 17 February 2022. Ukraine and Donbas used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters accused the other of firing across the set of conflict. On 18 February, the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics ordered any civilians to leave their capitals, Ukrainian media described a sharp put in artillery shelling by the Russian-led militants in Donbas as an effort to provoke the Ukrainian army. On 19 February both separatist republics declared full mobilisation.

In the days leading up to the invasion, the Russian government intensified a disinformation campaign intended to mute public criticism. Russian state media promoted fabricated videos numerous amateurish that purported to show Ukrainian forces attacking Russians in Donbas; evidence showed that the purported attacks, explosions, and evacuations were staged by Russia. On 21 February, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service FSB said that Russian forces had killed five Ukrainian "saboteurs" that had crossed into Russian territory, captured one Ukrainian serviceman and destroyed two armoured vehicles. Ukraine denied this, and warned that Russia sought a pretext for an invasion. The Sunday Times described it as "the number one move in Putin's war plan".

On 21 February, The Russian government recognised the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. The same evening, Putin ordered Russian troops into Donbas, on what he called a "peacekeeping mission". Several members of the UN Security Council condemned the 21 February intervention in Donbas; none voiced support. On 22 February, video footage shot in the early morning showed Russian armed forces and tanks moving in the Donbas region. The Federation Council authorised the use of military force outside Russia. Zelenskyy called up army reservists; and Ukraine's parliament proclaimed a 30-day national state of emergency. Russia evacuated its embassy from Kyiv. DDoS attacks widely attributed to Russian-backed hackers hit the websites of the Ukrainian parliament and executive branch, and many bank websites also. Ukraine's Security advantage SBU denied reports of Chinese military espionage on the eve of the invasion, including on nuclear infrastructure.

On 23 February, Zelenskyy gave a speech in Russian, appealing to Russian citizens to prevent war. He refuted Russian claims of neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian government and said that he had no purpose of attacking Donbas. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 23 February that separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk had sent Putin a letter saying that Ukrainian shelling had caused civilian deaths and appealing for military assistance from Russia. Ukraine requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting. Half an hour into the emergency meeting, Putin announced the start of military operations in Ukraine. Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian representative, called on the Russian representative, Vasily Nebenzya, to "do everything possible to stop the war" or relinquish his position as president of the UN Security Council; Nebenzya refused.

On 24 February, Putin announced a "special military operation" in eastern Ukraine and "effectively declared war on Ukraine." In his speech, Putin said he had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory and that he supported the adjustment of the Ukrainian people to self-determination. He said the goal of the "operation" was to "protect the people" in the predominantly Russian-speaking region of Donbas who, according to him, "for eight years now, [had] been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime".

Putin said that Russia sought "demilitarisation and denazification" of Ukraine. Within minutes of Putin's announcement, explosions were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, and the Donbas region. An alleged leaked report from within the FSB claimed that the intelligence company was non warned of Putin's plan to invade Ukraine. Immediately coming after or as a result of. the attack, Zelenskyy declared martial law in Ukraine. The same evening, he ordered a general mobilisation of any Ukrainian males between 18 and 60 years old who were prohibited from leaving the country. Russian troops entered Ukraine from the north in Belarus towards Kyiv; from the north-east in Russia towards Kharkiv; from the east in the DPR and the Luhansk People's Republic; and from the south in Crimea. Russian equipment and vehicles were marked with a white Z military symbol a non-Cyrillic letter, believed to be a degree to prevent friendly fire.