2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

"Russian invasion of Ukraine" redirects here. For previous invasions of Ukraine, see List of invasions and occupations of Ukraine.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Part of the Russo-Ukrainian War
Military situation as of 9 August 2026    Controlled by Ukraine    Occupied by Russia and pro-Russian forces See also: Detailed map of the Russo-Ukrainian War
Date 24 February 2022 (2022-02-24) – present (4 years, 5 months, 2 weeks and 2 days) Location Ukraine Status Ongoing (list of engagements · control of cities · timeline of events) Russian Ground Forces enter Ukraine from Russia, Crimea, and Belarus Russian air and missile strikes target military bases, airports and major cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Odessa
Belligerents
Russia  Donetsk Republic  Luhansk Republic  Belarus	Ukraine
Commanders and leaders
Vladimir Putin Mikhail Mishustin Sergey Shoygu Valery Gerasimov Vladimir Kolokoltsev Ramzan Kadyrov Denis Pushilin Vladimir Pashkov Leonid Pasechnik Sergey Kozlov	Volodymyr Zelenskyy Denys Shmyhal Oleksii Reznikov Denys Monastyrsky Oleksii Danilov Valerii Zaluzhnyi Serhiy Shaptala Ruslan Khomchak Vitali Klitschko
Strength
Russia: ~175,000–190,000 Donetsk Republic: 20,000 Luhansk Republic: 14,000	Ukraine: 209,000 (armed forces) 102,000 (paramilitary) 900,000 (reserves)
Order of battle for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Casualties and losses
Per Russia (27 February): Some losses, but no official number Per Ukraine: 4,300 casualties 200 captured Equipment losses: Per Russia: 2 civilian ships bombed (several casualties onboard) 1 Su-25 crashed 1 An-26 crashed (crew killed) Per Ukraine 146 tanks destroyed 536 armoured vehicles destroyed 27 aircraft shot down 26 helicopters shot down 2 Ilyushin Il-76 planes shot down	Per Ukraine (24 February): 40+ soldiers killed Per Russia: 621+ soldiers surrendered Equipment losses: Per Ukraine: 1 transport aircraft shot down (five onboard killed) 1 Su-27 shot down 1 Antonov An-225 Mriya destroyed Per Russia: 7 combat aircraft shot down 7 combat helicopters shot down 9 drones shot down 67 tanks/combat vehicles destroyed 87 other military vehicles destroyed 8 navy vessels destroyed
Per Ukraine: 352 civilians killed, 1,684 wounded Per UN: 64+ civilians killed, 422,000+ refugees 10 Greek citizens killed 4 Azerbaijani citizens killed 1 Iraqi citizen killed 1 Algerian citizen killed Other losses: 1 Turkish-owned vessel damaged 1 Moldovan-flagged vessel damaged 1 Panamanian-flagged cargo ship damaged

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of its neighbours to the southwest. Early reports declared it the largest conventional warfare operation in Europe since World War II. The countries were in a state of conflict since 2014.

The invasion was preceded by a Russian military build-up that started in early 2021, during which Russian president Vladimir Putin criticised the post-1997 enlargement of NATO as a threat to his country's security and demanded that Ukraine be legally prohibited from joining the military alliance; he also expressed irredentist views. Despite the Russian military build-ups, Russian officials from 12 November 2021 to 20 February 2022 repeatedly denied that Russia had plans to invade Ukraine. On 21 February 2022, Russia officially recognised the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic, two self-proclaimed states in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, and sent troops to the territories. The following day, the Russian Federation Council unanimously authorised Putin to use military force outside Russia's borders.

Around 05:00 EET (UTC+2) on 24 February, Putin announced a "special military operation" in eastern Ukraine; minutes later, missiles began to hit locations across Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv. The Ukrainian Border Service said that its border posts with Russia and Belarus were attacked. Two hours later, Russian ground forces entered the country. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded by enacting martial law, severing diplomatic ties with Russia, and ordering general mobilisation.

The invasion received widespread international condemnation, including new sanctions imposed on Russia. Global protests took place against the invasion, while protests in Russia were met with mass arrests. Both prior to and during the invasion, some of the 30 member states of NATO have been providing Ukraine with arms and other materiel support.

Background

Post-Soviet context and Orange Revolution

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine and Russia maintained close ties. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to abandon its nuclear arsenal; it signed the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances on the condition that Russia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) would provide assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. Five years later, 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".

Viktor Yanukovych, then prime minister, was declared the winner of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, which had been largely rigged according to a Supreme Court of Ukraine ruling. The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, and widespread peaceful protests challenged the outcome in what became known as the Orange Revolution. During the tumultuous months of the revolution, candidate Yushchenko suddenly became gravely ill, and was soon found by multiple independent physician groups to have been poisoned by TCDD dioxin. Yushchenko strongly suspected Russian involvement in his poisoning. A re-run of the second round of the election was held, bringing Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko to power, while casting Yanukovych in opposition.

In 2009, Romanian analyst Iulian Chifu and his co-authors opined that with regard to Ukraine, Russia has pursued an updated version of the Brezhnev Doctrine, a Cold War policy of Soviet intervention in the countries of the Soviet sphere of influence during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2009, Yanukovych announced his intent to again run for president in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, which he won.

Ukrainian revolution and the Donbas War

Euromaidan protests in Kyiv, December 2013

The Euromaidan protests began in 2013 over the Ukrainian government's decision to suspend the signing of the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. Following weeks of protests, Yanukovych and the leaders of the Ukrainian parliamentary opposition signed a settlement agreement on 21 February 2014 that called for an early election. The following day, Yanukovych fled from Kyiv ahead of an impeachment vote that stripped him of his powers as president. Leaders of the Russian-speaking eastern regions of Ukraine declared continuing loyalty to Yanukovych, causing the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. The unrest was followed by the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 and the War in Donbas, which started in April 2014 with the creation of the Russia-backed quasi-states of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

In July 2021, Putin published an essay titled On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, in which he re-affirmed his view that Russians and Ukrainians were "one people". American historian Timothy Snyder described Putin's ideas as imperialism. British journalist Edward Lucas described it as historical revisionism. Other observers have described the Russian leadership as having a distorted view of modern Ukraine and its history.

Ukraine and other European countries neighbouring Russia accused Putin of attempting Russian irredentism and of pursuing aggressive militaristic policies.

Prelude

Russian military build-ups

Main article: 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis

US paratroopers of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment depart Italy for Latvia, 24 February 2022. Thousands of US troops were deployed to eastern Europe amid Russia's military build-up.

From March to April 2021, Russia commenced a major military build-up near areas that border Ukraine. A second phase of troop expansion took place from October 2021 to February 2022.

Russian equipment marked with a white Z symbol, which is not a Cyrillic letter, were spotted on the sides of the equipment during the build-up. Tanks, fighting vehicles, and other equipment bearing the symbol were seen as late as 22 February 2022. Observers believed that the marking was a deconfliction measure meant to prevent friendly fire incidents.

Kremlin denials of plans to invade

Despite the Russian military build-ups, Russian officials over months repeatedly denied that Russia had plans to invade Ukraine. On 12 November 2021, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Putin, told reporters that "Russia doesn’t threaten anyone. The movement of troops on our territory shouldn’t be a cause for anyone's concern". On 28 November 2021, Peskov stated that "Russia has never hatched, is not hatching and will never hatch any plans to attack anyone ... Russia is a peaceful country, which is interested in good relations with its neighbors". On 12 December 2021, Peskov said that tensions regarding Ukraine were "being created to further demonise Russia and cast it as a potential aggressor".

On 19 January 2022, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia does "not want and will not take any action of aggressive character. We will not attack, strike, invade, quote unquote, whatever Ukraine." On 12 February 2022, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov described discussion about the "so-called planned Russian invasion" as "hysteria". On 20 February 2022, Russia's ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that Russian forces "don't threaten anyone. ... There is no invasion. There is [sic] no such plans."

The United States sought to counter Russian denials by releasing intelligence relating to Russian invasion plans including satellite photographs of buildup and movement of Russian troops and equipment near the Ukrainian border. The United States also claimed the existence of a list of key Ukrainians to be killed or detained upon invasion.

Russian accusations and demands

In the leadup to the invasion, Putin and Kremlin officials engaged in a protracted series of accusations against Ukraine as well as demands against Ukraine and NATO in an attempt to generate justification for war. On 9 December 2021, Putin spoke of discrimination against Russian speakers outside Russia, saying: "I have to say that Russophobia is a first step towards genocide. You and I know what is happening in Donbas. It certainly looks very much like genocide." On 15 February 2022, Putin told the press: "What is going on in Donbas is exactly genocide." The Russian government also condemned the language policy in Ukraine. On 18 February, Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, accused the US of condoning the forced cultural assimilation of Russians in Ukraine. In an address on 21 February, Putin said that Ukrainian society "was faced with the rise of far-right nationalism, which rapidly developed into aggressive Russophobia and neo-Nazism".

Putin's claims were generally ineffective. They were largely dismissed by the international community. Russian claims of genocide have been widely rejected as baseless. The European Commission has also rejected the allegations as "Russian disinformation". The US embassy in Ukraine called the Russian genocide claim a "reprehensible falsehood". Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said that Moscow was making such claims as an excuse for invading Ukraine. The claims were broadly interpreted as being backwards looking, appealing to past notions of the USSR's heyday. According to press reports, Putin was using a "false 'Nazi' narrative", taking advantage of collaboration in German-occupied Ukraine during World War II, to justify Russia's attack on Ukraine; while there have been problems and the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion is a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, analysts commented that Putin has largely overblown the issue, and said there is no widespread support for far-right ideology in the government, military, or electorate, and no far-right candidate won a single seat in the Verkhovna Rada, the national legislature, during the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Both President Zelenskyy and Volodymyr Groysman, a former prime minister of Ukraine, are Jewish; this made Ukraine one of two countries in the world to have had at the same time both a Jewish head of state and head of government, the other being Israel. Addressing the Russian claim specifically, Zelenskyy stated his grandfather served in the Soviet Army fighting against the Nazis; he also lost three family members in the Holocaust. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum condemned Putin's abuse of Holocaust history as a justification for war. Many commentators saw the claims as reflecting Putin's detachment from reality due to becoming more isolated with fewer people in his circle who were able to give him frank advice. Putin's claims also did not resonate with Russians as similar claims had prior to the 2014 invasion of Donbas. This was despite extensive coverage on Russian state media portraying Ukrainian genocide.

During the second build-up, Russia issued demands to the US and NATO for what it referred to as "security guarantees". Russia advanced two draft treaties that included a legally binding promise that Ukraine would not join NATO, as well as a reduction in NATO troops and military hardware stationed in Eastern Europe. In addition, Russia threatened an unspecified military response if NATO continued to follow an "aggressive line".

These demands were largely interpreted as being non-viable. New NATO members had joined under legitimate grounds as per their rights as sovereign nations. Moreover, these nations were democracies whose populations broadly preferred to move towards the safety and economic opportunities offered by NATO and the European Union; and away from Russia. Even the demand for formal treaty preventing Ukraine from joining NATO was seen as unviable, despite NATO showing no desire to accede to Ukraine's persistent requests to join.

Alleged clashes

Fighting in Donbas escalated significantly on 17 February 2022. While the daily number of attacks over the first six weeks of 2022 ranged from two to five, the Ukrainian military reported 60 attacks on 17 February. Russian state media also reported over 20 artillery attacks on separatist positions the same day. The Ukrainian government accused Russian separatists of shelling a kindergarten at Stanytsia Luhanska using artillery, injuring three civilians. The Luhansk People's Republic said that its forces had been attacked by the Ukrainian government with mortars, grenade launchers, and machine gun fire.

The next day, the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic ordered mandatory evacuations of civilians from their respective capital cities, although observers noted that full evacuations would take months to accomplish. Ukrainian media reported a sharp increase in artillery shelling by the Russian-led militants in Donbas as attempts to provoke the Ukrainian army. On 21 February, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that Ukrainian shelling had destroyed an FSB border facility 150 metres from the Russia–Ukraine border in Rostov Oblast. The Luhansk thermal power station in the Luhansk People's Republic was also shelled by unknown forces. Ukrainian news stated that it was forced to shut down as a result.

Separately, the press service of the Southern Military District announced that Russian forces had in the morning that day killed a group of five saboteurs near the village of Mityakinskaya, Rostov Oblast, that had penetrated the border from Ukraine in two infantry fighting vehicles, the vehicles having been destroyed. Ukraine denied being involved in both incidents and called them a false flag. Additionally, two Ukrainian soldiers and a civilian were reported killed by shelling in the village of Zaitseve, 30 kilometres (19 mi; 16 nmi) north of Donetsk. Several analysts, including the investigative website Bellingcat, published evidence that many of the claimed attacks, explosions, and evacuations in Donbas were staged by Russia.

Escalation (21–23 February)

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Putin's address to the nation on 22 February 2022

On 21 February, following the recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, Putin directed the deployment of Russian troops (including mechanised forces) into Donbas in what Russia referred to as a "peacekeeping mission". Russia's military said it killed five Ukrainian "saboteurs" who crossed the border into Russia, a claim strongly denied by Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. Later that day, several independent media outlets confirmed that Russian forces were entering Donbas. The 21 February intervention in Donbas was widely condemned by the UN Security Council and did not receive any support. Kenya's ambassador Martin Kimani compared Putin's move to colonialism and said: "We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression."

On 22 February, US president Joe Biden stated that "the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine" had occurred. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said that "further invasion" had taken place. Ukrainian foreign minister Kuleba stated: "There's no such thing as a minor, middle or major invasion. Invasion is an invasion." Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated that "Russian troops [had arrived] on Ukrainian soil" in what was "[not] a fully-fledged invasion". On the same day, the Federation Council unanimously authorised Putin to use military force outside Russia. In turn, Zelenskyy ordered a conscription of Ukraine's reservists, while not committing to general mobilisation yet.

On 23 February, the Verkhovna Rada proclaimed a 30-day nationwide state of emergency, excluding the occupied territories in Donbas, which took effect at midnight. The parliament also ordered the mobilisation of all reservists of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On the same day, Russia began to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv and also lowered the Russian flag from the top of the building. The websites of the Ukrainian parliament and government, along with banking websites, were hit by DDoS attacks.

By night on 23 February, Zelenskyy made a televised speech in which he addressed the citizens of Russia in Russian and pleaded with them to prevent war. In the speech, Zelenskyy refuted claims of the Russian government about the presence of neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian government and stated that he had no intention of attacking the Donbas region.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics sent a letter to Putin appealing for military support from Russia "in repelling the aggression of the Ukrainian armed forces", with the letter claiming that Ukrainian government shelling had caused civilian deaths. In response to the appeal, Ukraine requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting. Another meeting was convened on 23–24 February. Russia, which held the presidency of the UN Security Council for February 2022 and has veto power as one of five permanent members, launched its invasion of Ukraine during the emergency meeting aiming to defuse the crisis. UN Secretary-General António Guterres pleaded to Putin: "Give peace a chance."

Invasion

Further information: List of military engagements during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and Timeline of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

See also: Cities and towns during the Russo-Ukrainian War and Timeline of the war in Donbas (2022)

Foreign military support to Ukraine

See also: List of international military aid of Russo-Ukrainian War

A number of foreign nations began providing military support to Ukraine in its post Yanukovych conflicts with Russia. This assisted the Ukrainian military to improve its quality. As Russia began building up its equipment and troops on on Ukraine's borders NATO member states increased the rate of weapons delivery. US president Joe Biden used Presidential Drawdown Authority in August and December 2021 to provide $260 million in aid. These included deliveries of FGM-148 Javelins and other anti-armour weapons, small arms, various calibers of ammunition, and other equipment.

Following the invasion, nations began making further commitments of arms deliveries. Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom announced that they would send more arms, to support and defend the Ukrainian military and government. On 24 February, Poland delivered some military supplies to Ukraine, including 100 mortars, various ammunition, and over 40,000 helmets. Sweden and Denmark both decided on 27 February to send 5,000 and 2,700 anti-tank weapons, respectively, to Ukraine. Denmark would also provide parts from 300 nonoperational Stinger missiles, that the US would first help make operational. Portugal announced on 27 February that it will send H&K G3 automatic rifles and other military equipment. The European Union (EU) announced on the same day that they would buy and deliver €450 million worth of weapons to Ukraine. While some of the 30 members of NATO are sending weapons, NATO as an organisation is not.

In January 2022, Germany ruled out sending weapons to Ukraine and prevented Estonia, through export controls on German-made arms, from sending former East German D-30 howitzers to Ukraine. Germany announced it was sending 5,000 helmets and a field hospital to Ukraine, to which Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko derisively responded, "What will they send next? Pillows?" On 26 February, in a reversal of its previous position, Germany approved the Netherlands' request to send 400 rocket-propelled grenades to Ukraine, as well as 500 Stinger missiles and 1,000 anti-tank weapons from its own supplies.

On 26 February, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that he had authorised $350 million in lethal military assistance, including "anti-armor and anti-aircraft systems, small arms and various caliber munitions, body armor, and related equipment". Russia claimed that US drones gave intelligence to the Ukrainian navy to help target its warships in the Black Sea, which the US denied.

On 27 February, the Norwegian government, with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, announced that it would not send weapons to Ukraine, but would send other military equipment, such as helmets and other protective gears. Furthermore, Norway reaffirmed permission for ammunition produced in Norway to be re-exported to Ukraine from other buyer countries. On the same day, Prime Minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson announced that Sweden would be delivering aid to Ukraine, including field rations, helmets, body shields, and anti-tank weapons. It was the first time since 1939 that Sweden abandoned its neutral policy in foreign politics.

On 27 February, the European Union took the unprecedented step of agreeing as an organization to purchase weapons for Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated that they would purchase 450 million euros (US$502 million) in lethal assistance and an additional 50 million euros ($56 million) in non-lethal supplies. Borrell stated that EU defense ministers still needed to determine the details of how to purchase the materiel and transfer it to Ukraine, but that Poland had agreed to act as a distribution hub.

Humanitarian impact

Casualties

Further information: Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War

Refugees

Refugees from Ukraine at border posts in the west of the country

Due to the continued military build-up along the Ukrainian border, many neighbouring governments and aid organisations have been preparing for a potential mass displacement event for weeks prior to the actual invasion. The Ukrainian Defence Minister estimated in December 2021 that an invasion could potentially force between three and five million people to flee their homes.

On 24 February, the Government of Latvia approved a contingency plan to receive and accommodate approximately 10,000 refugees from Ukraine, and two days later the first refugees began arriving, assisted by the Latvian Samaritan Association.

Ana Revenco, the Interior Minister of Moldova, said on 25 February that over 15,800 Ukrainian citizens had crossed the border into Moldova. The Interior Ministry of Romania stated that around 10,000 Ukrainians had crossed into the country since the start of the invasion, but only 11 of them had applied for refugee status in the country.

Poland is preparing for an influx of refugees, although no significant numbers were reported on the first day of the invasion. To facilitate border crossings, Poland lifted COVID-19 entry rules. Following preparations before the war started, on 26 February, Polish minister Paweł Szefernaker said that approximately 100,000 people had crossed into Poland since the start of the invasion.

The government of Hungary announced on 24 February that all persons crossing the border from Ukraine, those without a travel document and arriving from third countries will also be admitted after appropriate screening. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that Hungary is a "friendly place" for people arriving from Ukraine. Approximately 26,000 Ukrainian refugees, of which a majority were Transcarpathian Hungarians, crossed the Hungarian border on 24–25 February. None of them requested any form of protection. Men between the age of 18 and 60 were denied from leaving Ukraine.

Ukrainian refugees started crossing into Romania as well. Most of them entered through Siret in Suceava County. Romania also exempted Ukrainian refugees from mandatory quarantine upon entry into the country imposed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first three days after the invasion, 31,000 Ukrainians entered Romania, of which only 111 requested some form of protection. Many used the Romanian or Ukrainian passport they held, preferring not to seek asylum for the time being. Romania's Interior Ministry approved on 26 February the installation of the first mobile camp near the Siret customs.

А large group of refugees is also expected in Bulgaria. Various municipalities announced their intentions to provide accommodations for Bulgarians and Ukrainians fleeing the country on 25 February, and had begun to modify and/or build housing locations for new arrivals.

On 26 February, Slovakia announced that they would give money to people who supported Ukrainian refugees. Over the previous 24 hour period, Slovakia had received over 10,000 refugees, mostly women and children.

On 27 February, UNHCR stated that more than 268,000 people had fled Ukraine since the start of the invasion. Of these, Poland reported that 156,000 people had crossed its border, including 77,300 on 26 February alone.

Later the same day, the EU agreed to take in Ukrainian refugees for up to three years without asking them to apply for asylum.

War crimes

Main article: War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

The invasion of Ukraine violates the Charter of the United Nations and constitutes a crime of aggression according to international criminal law; the crime of aggression can be prosecuted under universal jurisdiction.

On 25 February, Amnesty International said that it had found irrefutable evidence that Russia had violated international humanitarian law, and that some of its attacks may amount to war crimes; it also said that Russian claims to be only using precision-guided weapons were false. Amnesty and Human Rights Watch said that Russian forces had carried out indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and strikes on hospitals, including firing a 9M79 Tochka ballistic missile with a cluster munition warhead towards a hospital in Vuhledar, which killed four civilians and wounded ten others, including six healthcare staff.

Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the governor of Sumy, said that at least six Ukrainians, including a seven-year-old girl, had died in a Russian attack on the city of Okhtyrka on 26 February, and that a kindergarten and orphanage had been hit. Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba called for the International Criminal Court to investigate the incident.

Greek–Russian diplomatic crisis

A diplomatic crisis within Greece–Russia relations sparked when the latter's air forces bombarded two villages of the Greek minority in Ukraine near Mariupol, killing 10 ethnic Greeks. Greece protested strongly, summoning the Russian ambassador. French president Emmanuel Macron and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with Germany, Poland, Sweden, and other countries, expressed their condolences to Greece for the massacre, while Moscow denied any involvement, with the Russian embassy claiming a Ukrainian far-right militant organization, the Azov Battalion, was behind the incident. Athens refuted Moscow's claims, announcing it possesses evidence of Russian involvement. Following this, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that his country would send defensive military equipment and humanitarian aid to support Ukraine.

Ramifications

Economic impact

Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with Boris Johnson on 1 February 2022

The Russian stock market fell 39% on the first day of the invasion, as measured by the RTS Index, and by more than 40% on 28 February, despite a two-hour suspension of trading at the Moscow Exchange. The Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange also suspended trading until further notice. The ruble fell to a record low against the US dollar on 24 February. The Central Bank of Russia announced its first market interventions since the 2014 annexation of Crimea to stabilise the market. Analysts expected Russian markets to continue bracing for anticipated Western sanctions and the central bank to raise the key interest rate to counteract inflationary pressures from the falling ruble. The National Bank of Ukraine suspended currency markets, announcing that it would fix the official exchange rate. The central bank also limited cash withdrawals to 100,000 hryvnia per day and prohibited withdrawal in foreign currencies by members of the general public. The PFTS Stock Exchange stated on 24 February that trading was suspended due to the emergency events. As a result of the invasion, Brent oil prices rose above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014.

Wheat prices surged to their highest prices since 2008 in response to the attack. Ukraine is the fourth-largest exporter of corn and wheat and the world's largest exporter of sunflower oil, with Russia and Ukraine together exporting 29% of the world's wheat supply and 75% of world sunflower oil exports. The benchmark Chicago Board of Trade March wheat futures contract reached its highest price since 2012 on 25 February, with the prices of corn and soybean also spiking. The American Bakers Association president warned that the price of anything made with grain would begin rising as all the grain markets are interrelated. The chief agricultural economist for Wells Fargo stated that Ukraine will likely be severely limited in their ability to plant crops in spring 2022 and lose an agricultural year, while an embargo on Russian crops would create more inflation of food prices. Recovering crop production capabilities may take years even after fighting has stopped. Surging wheat prices resulting from the conflict have strained countries such as Egypt, which are highly dependent upon Russian and Ukrainian wheat exports, and have provoked fears of social unrest. On 24 February, China announced that it would drop all restrictions on Russian wheat, in what the South China Morning Post called a potential "lifeline" for the Russian economy.

Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned that the conflict poses a substantial economic risk for the region and internationally and added that the Fund could help other countries impacted by the conflict, complementary to a $2.2 billion loan package being prepared to assist Ukraine. David Malpass, the president of the World Bank Group, said that the conflict would have far-reaching economic and social effects and reported that the bank was preparing options for significant economic and fiscal support to Ukrainians and the region.

On 27 February, BP, one of the world's seven largest oil and gas companies and the single largest foreign investor in Russia, announced it was divesting from Rosneft. The Rosneft interest comprises about half of BP's oil and gas reserves and a third of its production. The divestment may cost the company up to $25 billion and analysts noted that it was unlikely that BP would be able to recover a fraction of this cost. The same day, the Government Pension Fund of Norway, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, announced that it would divest itself from its Russian assets. The fund owned about 25 billion Norwegian krone ($2.83 billion) in Russian company shares and government bonds.

Sanctions

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US president Biden's statements and a short question and answer session on 24 February 2022

Nord Stream, a natural gas pipeline, runs under the Baltic Sea (bypass Ukraine pipeline). Germany imports 50% to 75% of its natural gas from Russia. Nord Stream 2 should double annual capacity of Nord Stream to 110 billion m³ (3.9 trillion cu ft), with cheaper energy price to Europeans.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz indefinitely blocked the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response to the Russian invasion of Donbas.

The foreign ministers of the Baltic states called for Russia to be cut off from SWIFT, the global messaging network for international payments. Other EU member states had been reluctant, both because European lenders held most of the nearly $30 billion in foreign banks' exposure to Russia and because China has developed an alternative to SWIFT called CIPS; a weaponisation of SWIFT would provide greater impetus to the development of CIPS which in turn would weaken SWIFT as well as the West's control over international finance. Other leaders calling for Russia to be stopped from accessing SWIFT include Czech president Miloš Zeman and the British prime minister Boris Johnson. Germany in particular had resisted calls for Russia to be banned from SWIFT, citing the effect it would have on payments for Russian gas and oil; on 26 February, the German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and economy minister Robert Habeck made a joint statement backing targeted restrictions of Russia from SWIFT. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that major Russian banks would be removed from SWIFT, although there would still be limited accessibility to ensure the continued ability to pay for gas shipments. Furthermore, it was announced that the West will place sanctions on the Russian Central Bank, which holds $630bn in foreign reserves, to prevent it from liquidating assets to offset the impact of sanctions. The BBC's Faisal Islam stated that the measures are far from normal sanctions and are "better seen as a form of economic war." The intent of the sanctions is to push Russia into a deep recession with the likelihood of bank runs and hyperinflation. Islam noted that targeting a G20 central bank in this way has never been done before.

Prime Minister Johnson announced that all major Russian banks would have their assets frozen and be excluded from the UK financial system, and that some export licenses to Russia will be suspended. He also introduced a deposit limit for Russian citizens in UK bank accounts, and froze the assets of over 100 additional individuals and entities.

Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former president Dmitry Medvedev derided Western sanctions imposed on Russia, including personal sanctions, and commented that they were a sign of "political impotence" from NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying they increased government support; he threatened to nationalise foreign assets that companies held inside Russia.

  Russia

  Ukraine

  Contested territories (Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk)

  Countries that have banned Russian aircraft from their airspace in response to the invasion

On the morning of 24 February, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced "massive" EU sanctions to be adopted by the union. The sanctions targeted technological transfers, Russian banks, and Russian assets. Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated that Russia would face "unprecedented isolation" as the EU would impose the "harshest package of sanctions [which the union has] ever implemented". He also said that "these are among the darkest hours of Europe since the Second World War". President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola called for "immediate, quick, solid and swift action" and convened an extraordinary session of Parliament for 1 March.

On 22 February, US president Joe Biden announced restrictions against four Russian banks, including V.E.B., as well as on "corrupt billionaires" close to Putin. The US also instituted export controls, a novel sanction focused on restricting Russian access to high tech components, both hardware and software, that are made with any parts or intellectual property from the US. The sanction requires that any person or company that wants to sell technology, semiconductors, encryption software, lasers, or sensors to Russia request a license, which by default is denied. The enforcement mechanism is sanctions against the person or company. The focus of the sanction is on the shipbuilding, aerospace, and defence industries.

On 26 February, the French Navy intercepted Russian cargo ship Baltic Leader in the English Channel. The ship is suspected of belonging to a company targeted by the sanctions. The ship was escorted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer and is being investigated.

The UK banned Russian state airline Aeroflot and Russian private jets from UK airspace. On 25 February, Poland, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic announced that they would close their airspace to Russian airlines; Estonia followed suit the next day. In response, Russia banned British airplanes from its airspace. S7 Airlines, Russia's largest domestic carrier, announced that it was cancelling all flights to Europe, and US carrier Delta Air Lines announced that it was suspending ties with Aeroflot. Russia further banned from its airspace all flights from carriers in Bulgaria, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Estonia, Romania, Lithuania, and Latvia announced they would also ban Russian airlines from their airspace. Germany also banned Russian aircraft from its airspace. On 27 February, the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had closed Portuguese airspace to Russian planes. The same day, the EU announced that it would close its airspace to Russian aircraft.

On 26 February, Bloomberg reported that two Chinese state banks — the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which is the largest bank in the world, and the Bank of China, which is the country's biggest currency trader — were limiting financing to purchase Russian raw materials, which was limiting Russian access to foreign currency. This was being done out of apparent fear that this funding would be seen as support for the invasion and draw Western sanctions. On 27 February Ignazio Cassis, President of the Swiss Confederation, announced that the Swiss government was very likely to sanction Russia and freeze all Russian assets in the country.

NATO

Putin's actions in Ukraine and threats and demands against NATO resulted in a strengthening of NATO. NATO members were required to spend 2% of their GDP on their militaries, however many states were reluctant to do this. Many states did this immediately following the invasion. Germany, ended its post WWII policy of non interventionism. Many member states significantly increased their forces on NATO's eastern border. If one of Putin's main aims was to weaken of NATO and push back on its expansion following the fall of the Soviet Union, he had achieved the opposite.

Depiction in mass media

See also: Disinformation in the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis and Media portrayal of the Ukrainian crisis

Throughout the invasion, messages, videos and photos were widely shared across social media and news sites and by friends and family of Ukrainian and Russian citizens. While many are authentic, first hand images of the conflict, others were created to spread disinformation or propaganda.

The Russian media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, ordered the country's media to only employ information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks, accusing a number of independent media outlets of spreading "unreliable socially significant untrue information" about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by the Russian army and civilian deaths. The Russian government ordered media organizations to delete stories that describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an "assault," "invasion," or a "declaration of war." Roskomnadzor launched an investigation against the Novaya Gazeta, Echo of Moscow, inoSMI, MediaZona, New Times, Dozhd (TV Rain), and other Russian media outlets for publishing "inaccurate information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army." Russian state-controlled media such as Russia-1 and Channel One and pro-Kremlin TV pundits like Vladimir Solovyov mostly follow Vladimir Putin's narrative on the war. RT, a Russian state-controlled TV network, was banned in Poland and suspended by television services in Australia and Gibraltar in response to the invasion.

Facebook allowed Ukrainian users to lock their pages after the US warned that Russia was creating death lists of Ukrainians to be targeted for execution or sent to camps following an invasion. On 25 February, Russia announced that it was limiting access to Facebook; Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Prosecutor General’s office announced that Facebook violates the rights of citizens of the Russian Federation. The company stated it had refused a Russian demand to stop fact-checking posts by four state-owned media organisations: Zvezda, RIA Novosti, Lenta.ru, and Gazeta.Ru. On 26 February, Facebook announced that it would ban Russian state media from advertising and monetising content on its platform.

Twitter paused post recommendations for unfollowed accounts in Russia and Ukraine, and temporarily halted the operations of its advertising platform within the two countries. Russia blocked the social media platform later that day.

Reactions

Main article: Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis

External links

• Part of Putin's national address pre-invasion, comments archived at archive.today, video archived at ghostarchive.org