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106-451: Khalino airbase was home to: All commercial flight activity at the airport was banned by Russian authorities at the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , starting at 03:45 on 24 February 2022. On 6 December 2022 the airport’s oil storage caught fire. The Kursk governor blamed the fire on a drone strike amid the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . On 2 June 2023, Ukrainian sources reported several Su-34 combat aircraft located at

212-493: A nationalistic agenda ." A proposal to repeal the law was vetoed on 28 February 2014 by acting president Oleksandr Turchynov . On 28 February 2018 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled the 2012 law on minority languages unconstitutional. On September 25, 2017, a new law on education was signed by President Petro Poroshenko (draft approved by Rada on September 5, 2017) which says that Ukrainian language

318-594: A neutral country and renounce its aspirations to join NATO. Zelenskyy replied that Putin could not be trusted to abide by such a settlement. Ukraine had been a neutral country in 2014 when Russia occupied Crimea and invaded the Donbas . On 19 February, Zelenskyy made a speech at the Munich Security Conference , calling for Western powers to drop their policy of " appeasement " towards Moscow and give

424-508: A new Novorossiya . Putin referred to the Kosovo independence precedent and NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as a justification for the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas, while historians note the similarities with Nazi Germany's Anschluss of Austria . Because of Russia's occupation of Crimea and its invasion of the Donbas , Ukraine's parliament voted in December 2014 to remove

530-861: A sphere of influence to try to control their neighbours". NATO underlined that it is a defensive alliance , and that it had co-operated with Russia until the latter annexed Crimea. It offered to improve communication with Russia, and to negotiate limits on missile placements and military exercises , provided Russia withdrew its troops from Ukraine's borders, but Russia did not do so. Western leaders vowed that heavy sanctions would be imposed should Putin choose to invade rather than to negotiate. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Putin in February 2022 to dissuade him from an invasion. According to Scholz, Putin told him that Ukraine should not be an independent state. Scholz told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to declare Ukraine

636-761: A 1997 treaty between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, Russia recognized Ukraine's borders and accepted Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine became an independent state. This independence was supported by the referendum in all regions of Ukrainian SSR, including those with large Russian populations. A study of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine found that in 1991, 75% of ethnic Russians in Ukraine no longer identified themselves with

742-724: A European country and the first full-scale war in Europe since the Second World War. Russia launched a simultaneous ground and air attack. Russian missiles struck targets throughout Ukraine, and Russian troops invaded from the north, east, and south. Russia did not officially declare war. It was Russia's largest combined arms operation since the Soviet Union 's Battle of Berlin in 1945. Fighting began in Luhansk Oblast at 3:40 a.m. Kyiv time near Milove on

848-485: A clear time-frame for when Ukraine could join NATO. As political analysts Taras Kuzio and Vladimir Socor agree, "when Russia made its decision to invade Ukraine, that country was more remote than ever not only from NATO membership but from any track that might lead to membership". On 21 February, Putin announced that Russia recognized the Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine as independent states:

954-460: A distorted view of Ukraine, as well as of its own history, and that these distortions were propagated through the state. In December 2021, Russia issued an ultimatum to the West , which included demands that NATO end all activity in its Eastern European member states and ban Ukraine or any former Soviet state from ever joining the alliance. Russia's government said NATO was a threat and warned of

1060-524: A ground invasion were launched on a northern front from Belarus towards the capital Kyiv , a southern front from Crimea , and an eastern front from the Donbas and towards Kharkiv . Ukraine enacted martial law , ordered a general mobilization and severed diplomatic relations with Russia . Russian troops retreated from the north and the outskirts of Kyiv by April 2022, after encountering stiff resistance and logistical challenges. The Bucha massacre

1166-535: A major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War , which started in 2014. The invasion, the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II , has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties . As of 2024, Russian troops occupy about 20% of Ukraine . From a population of 41 million, about 8 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced and more than 8.2 million had fled

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1272-683: A mandatory subject of study in all Russian schools, but in many government offices preference was given to the Russian language that gave an additional impetus to the advancement of Russification . The 1979 census showed that only one third of ethnic Russians spoke the Ukrainian language fluently. In 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued the decree on the transfer of

1378-763: A massive movement of Ukrainian settlers to the Sloboda Ukraine region, which converted it from a sparsely inhabited frontier area to one of the major populated regions of the Tsardom of Russia . Following the Treaty of Pereyaslav , Ukrainian Cossacks lands, including the modern northern and eastern parts of Ukraine, became a protectorate of the Tsardom of Russia. This brought the first significant, but still small, wave of Russian settlers into central Ukraine (primarily several thousand soldiers stationed in garrisons, out of

1484-577: A measure to prevent friendly fire . Immediately after the invasion began, Zelenskyy declared martial law in Ukraine in a first video speech. The same evening, he ordered a general mobilisation of all Ukrainian males between 18 and 60 years old, prohibiting them from leaving the country. Wagner Group mercenaries and Kadyrovites contracted by the Kremlin reportedly made several attempts to assassinate Zelenskyy , including an operation involving several hundred mercenaries meant to infiltrate Kyiv with

1590-590: A military counter-offensive against the insurgents in April 2014. During this war, major cities like Luhansk and Donetsk have seen heavy shelling. According to the United Nations, 730,000 refugees from the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts have fled to Russia since the beginning of 2014. Approximately 14,200 people, including 3,404 civilians, have died from 2014-2022 because of the war. Ruslan Stefanchuk ,

1696-821: A military response if it followed an "aggressive line". Some of the demands had already been ruled out by NATO. A senior US official said the US was willing to discuss the proposals, but added that there were some "that the Russians know are unacceptable". Eastern European states willingly joined NATO for security reasons, and the last time a country bordering Russia had joined was in 2004. Ukraine had not yet applied, and some members were wary of letting it join. Barring Ukraine would go against NATO's " open door " policy, and against treaties agreed to by Russia itself. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg replied that "Russia has no say" on whether Ukraine joins, and "has no right to establish

1802-795: A missile strike against Kyiv on 6 June after not directly attacking the city for several weeks. On 10 June 2022, deputy head of the SBU Vadym Skibitsky stated that during the Severodonetsk campaign, the frontlines were where the future of the invasion would be decided: "This is an artillery war now, and we are losing in terms of artillery. Everything now depends on what [the west] gives us. Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces. Our western partners have given us about 10% of what they have." On 29 June, Reuters reported that US Intelligence Director Avril Haines, in an update of past US intelligence assessments on

1908-430: A notable fraction of the overall population in the east and south, a significant minority in the center, and a smaller minority in the west. The west and the center of the country feature a higher percentage of Russians in cities and industrial centers and much smaller percentage in the overwhelmingly Ukrainophone rural areas. Due to the concentration of the Russians in the cities, as well as for historic reasons, most of

2014-576: A policy of Ukrainization , to simultaneously break the remains of the Great Russian attitude and to gain popularity among the Ukrainian population, thus recognizing their dominance of the republic. The Ukrainian language was mandatory for most jobs, and its teaching became compulsory in all schools. By the early 1930s attitudes towards the policy of Ukrainization had changed within the Soviet leadership. In 1933 Stalin declared that local nationalism

2120-539: A poll held October 2008, 42.8% of the Ukrainian respondents said they regard Russia as “very good” while 44.9% said their attitude was “good" (87% positive). According to the Institute of Sociology surveys conducted yearly between 1995 and 2005, the percentage of respondents who have encountered cases of ethnic-based discrimination against Russians during the preceding year has consistently been low (mostly in single digits), with no noticeable difference when compared with

2226-487: A population of approximately 1.2 million non-Russians). At the end of the 18th century, the Russian Empire captured large uninhabited steppe territories from the former Crimean Khanate . The systematic colonization of lands in what became known as Novorossiya (mainly Crimea , Taurida and around Odesa ) began. Migrants from many ethnic groups (predominantly Ukrainians and Russians from Russia proper) came to

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2332-564: A probative spearhead on 24 February, from Belarus south along the west bank of the Dnipro River . The apparent intent was to encircle the city from the west, supported by two separate axes of attack from Russia along the east bank of the Dnipro: the western at Chernihiv , and from the east at Sumy . These were likely intended to encircle Kyiv from the northeast and east. Russia tried to seize Kyiv quickly, with Spetsnaz infiltrating into

2438-491: A quarter of a million) was expelled from their homeland in Crimea to Central Asia , under accusations of collaborations with Germans. The Crimea was repopulated by the new wave of Russian and Ukrainian settlers and the Russian proportion of the population of Crimea went up significantly (from 47.7% in 1937 to 61.6% in 1993) and the Ukrainian proportion doubled (12.8% in 1937 and 23.6% in 1993). The Ukrainian language remained

2544-716: A quick victory in Kyiv, Russian forces switched their strategy to indiscriminate bombing and siege warfare. On 25 March, a Ukrainian counter-offensive retook several towns to the east and west of Kyiv, including Makariv . Russian troops in the Bucha area retreated north at the end of March. Ukrainian forces entered the city on 1 April. Ukraine said it had recaptured the entire region around Kyiv, including Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel, and uncovered evidence of war crimes in Bucha . On 6 April, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said that

2650-498: A reconstruction conference in Switzerland that Ukraine needs $ 750bn for a recovery plan and Russian oligarchs should contribute to the cost. The invasion began on 24 February, launched out of Belarus to target Kyiv, and from the northeast against the city of Kharkiv. The southeastern front was conducted as two separate spearheads, from Crimea and the southeast against Luhansk and Donetsk. Russian efforts to capture Kyiv included

2756-458: A referendum on deciding the future of the region. On 3 March, a number of people, including Russian nationals with "clear Russian accents", who referred to themselves as "tourists", started storming the regional administration building in Donetsk , waving Russian flags and shouting ″Russia!″ and ″ Berkut are heroes!″. The police was not able to offer much resistance, and was quickly overrun by

2862-694: A result, many notable Russians moved to Ukraine to avoid political prosecution in Russia. Notable examples are Ilya Ponomaryov (the only member of parliament who voted against the annexation of Crimea), journalists Matvey Ganapolsky , Arkadiy Babchenko , Evgeny Kiselyov , Alexander Nevzorov and others. According to the statistics presented by the United Nation's Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in 2014 approximately 140 Russians applied for political asylum in Ukraine. In

2968-461: A similar landing at Vasylkiv , near Vasylkiv Air Base , on 26 February. By early March, Russian advances along the west side of the Dnipro were limited by Ukrainian defences. As of 5 March, a large Russian convoy , reportedly 64 kilometres (40 mi) long, had made little progress toward Kyiv. The London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) assessed Russian advances from

3074-695: A terrorist state. Protests occurred around the world, with anti-war protesters in Russia being met by mass arrests and greater media censorship . The Russian attacks on civilians have led to allegations of genocide . War-related disruption to Ukrainian agriculture and shipping contributed to a world food crisis , while war-related environmental damage has been described as ecocide . The International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into crimes against humanity , war crimes , abduction of Ukrainian children , and genocide against Ukrainians. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova , and for four Russian military officials. After

3180-503: A third in 1947 to leave the territory with a greatly reduced population. A large portion of the wave of new migrants to industrialize, integrate and Sovietize the recently acquired western Ukrainian territories were ethnic Russians who mostly settled around industrial centers and military garrisons. This increased the proportion of the Russian speaking population. Near the end of the War, the entire population of Crimean Tatars (numbering up to

3286-489: A very cold or cold attitude toward Russia, as opposed to only 17 percent who expressed a very warm or warm attitude. Some surveys indicate that Russians are not socially distanced in Ukraine. The indicator of the willingness of Ukraine's residents to participate in social contacts of varying degrees of closeness with different ethnic groups (the Bogardus Social Distance Scale ) calculated based on

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3392-652: A western area of operations toward Mariupol was opened by the Southern Military District , including the 58th , 49th , and 8th Combined Arms Army , the latter also commanding the 1st and 2nd Army Corps of the Russian separatist forces in Donbas . By 7 April, Russian troops deployed to the northern front by the Russian Eastern Military District pulled back from the Kyiv offensive, reportedly to resupply and redeploy to

3498-614: Is committing severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine. The invasion was met with widespread international condemnation . The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the invasion and demanding a full Russian withdrawal. The International Court of Justice ordered Russia to halt military operations, and the Council of Europe expelled Russia. Many countries imposed sanctions on Russia and its ally Belarus, and provided humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. The Baltic states and Poland declared Russia

3604-552: Is the language of education at all levels except for one or more subjects that are allowed to be taught in two or more languages, namely English or one of the other official languages of the European Union . The law faced criticism from officials in Russia and Hungary. According to the New Europe : The latest row between Kiev and Budapest comes on the heels of a bitter dispute over a decision by Ukraine’s parliament –

3710-687: The 29th , 35th , and 36th Combined Arms Armies . A second axis, deployed towards eastern Kyiv from Russia by the Central Military District (northeastern front), comprised the 41st Combined Arms Army and the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army . A third axis was deployed towards Kharkiv by the Western Military District (eastern front), with the 1st Guards Tank Army and 20th Combined Arms Army . A fourth, southern front originating in occupied Crimea and Russia's Rostov oblast with an eastern axis towards Odesa and

3816-648: The Charter for European Security , affirming the right of each state "to choose or change its security arrangements" and to join alliances. In 2002, Putin said that Ukraine's relations with NATO were "a matter for those two partners". Russian forces invaded Georgia in August 2008 and took control of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia , demonstrating Russia's willingness to use military force to attain its political objectives. The United States "was accused of appeasement and naivete" in their reaction to

3922-602: The Euromaidan events, regions with a large ethnic Russian populations became the scene of Anti-Maidan protests and Russian-backed separatist activity. After being seized by Russian unmarked troops , the Supreme Council of Crimea announced the 2014 Crimean referendum , and sent a request to Russia to send military forces into the Crimea to "protect" the local population from Euromaidan protesters, which marked

4028-724: The Goryuns around Putyvl , and the Lipovans (a group of Old Believers ) around Vylkove . One of the most prominent Russians in Medieval Ukraine (at that time the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ) was Ivan Fyodorov , who published the Ostrog Bible and called himself a Muscovite . In 1599, Tsar Boris Godunov ordered the construction of Tsareborisov on the banks of Oskol River , the first city and

4134-763: The Imperial Russia , belonged to a single Russian nation, the descendants of the people of Kievan Rus . In the beginning of the 20th century, Russians were the largest ethnic group in the following cities: Kiev (54.2%), Kharkov (63.1%), Odessa (49.09%), Nikolayev (66.33%), Mariupol (63.22%), Lugansk (68.16%), Berdyansk (66.05%), Kherson (47.21%), Melitopol (42.8%), Yekaterinoslav (41.78%), Yelizavetgrad (34.64%), Pavlograd (34.36%), Simferopol (45.64%), Feodosiya (46.84%), Yalta (66.17%), Kerch (57.8%), Sevastopol (63.46%), Chuguev (86%). The first Russian Empire Census , conducted in 1897, showed extensive usage (and in some cases dominance) of

4240-957: The Russian Civil War (1918–1922), the Communist Reds ( Red Army ) and the Anti-Bolshevik Whites ( Volunteer Army ). The October Revolution also found its echo amongst the extensive working class, and several Soviet Republics were formed by the Bolsheviks in Ukraine: the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets , Soviet Socialist Republic of Taurida , Odessa Soviet Republic and the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic . The Russian SFSR government supported military intervention against

4346-602: The Russian Defence Ministry stated that the first stage of the "military operation" in Ukraine was "generally complete", that the Ukrainian military forces had suffered serious losses, and the Russian military would now concentrate on the "liberation of Donbas ." The "first stage" of the invasion was conducted on four fronts, including one towards western Kyiv from Belarus by the Russian Eastern Military District , comprising

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4452-786: The Russian language to be an official language on a regional level; however, the referendum was annulled by the Kyiv government. Much controversy has surrounded the reduction of schools with Russian as their main language of instruction. In 1989, there were 4,633 schools with Russian as the main instruction language, and by 2001 this number fell to 2,001 schools or 11.8% of the total in the country. A significant number of these Russian schools were converted into schools in with both Russian and Ukrainian language classes. By 2007, 20% of pupils in public schools studied in Russian classes. Some regions such as Rivne Oblast have no schools with Russian only instruction left, but only Russian classes provided in

4558-649: The Russian nation . In the December 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum 55% of the ethnic Russians in Ukraine voted for independence. The return of Crimean Tatars has resulted in several high-profile clashes over land ownership and employment rights. In 1994 a referendum took place in the Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast , with around 90% supporting the Russian language gaining status of an official language alongside Ukrainian , and for

4664-709: The Ternopil regional council in Western Ukraine. In 2004 Oleh Tyahnybok , the leader of the "Svoboda" party, urged his party to fight "the Moscow-Jewish mafia" ruling Ukraine. "Svoboda" members held senior positions in Ukraine's government in 2014. But the party lost 30 seats of the 37 seats (its first seats in the Ukrainian Parliament it had won in the 2012 parliamentary election ) in

4770-442: The Ukrainian People's Republic , which at different periods controlled most of the territory of present-day Ukraine with the exception of Crimea and Western Ukraine. Although there were differences between Ukrainian Bolsheviks initially, which resulted in the proclamation of several Soviet Republics in 1917, later, due in large part to pressure from Vladimir Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders, one Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

4876-733: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the newly independent states of the Russian Federation and Ukraine maintained cordial relations. In return for security guarantees, Ukraine signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1994, agreeing to dismantle the nuclear weapons the former USSR had left in Ukraine. At that time, Russia, the UK, and the USA agreed in the Budapest Memorandum to uphold Ukraine's territorial integrity. In 1999, Russia signed

4982-710: The neutrality clause from the Constitution and to seek Ukraine's membership in NATO . However, it was impossible for Ukraine to join NATO at the time, as any applicant country must have no "unresolved external territorial disputes". In 2016, President of the European Commission , Jean-Claude Juncker , said that it would take 20–25 years for Ukraine to join the EU and NATO. The Minsk agreements , signed in September 2014 and February 2015, aimed to resolve

5088-553: The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, said that there is no "Russian ethnic minority" in Ukraine and that "if these people show aggression rather than respect towards Ukraine, then their rights should be correspondingly suppressed." In total, according to a 2007 country-wide survey by the Institute of Sociology, only 0.5% of the respondents describe as belonging to a group that faces discrimination by language. Furthermore, in

5194-413: The Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. This action increased the ethnic Russian population of Ukraine by almost a million people. Many Russian politicians considered the transfer to be controversial. Controversies and legality of the transfer remained a sore point in relations between Ukraine and Russia for a few years, and in particular in the internal politics in Crimea. However, in

5300-520: The Crimean Parliament . Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, after a widely disputed referendum held under occupation. Pro-Russian unrest immediately followed in the Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Luhansk . The war in Donbas began in April 2014 when armed Russian-backed separatists seized Ukrainian government buildings and proclaimed the independent Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic . Russian troops were directly involved in these conflicts. The annexation of Crimea and

5406-606: The Donbas region in an effort to reinforce the renewed invasion of southeastern Ukraine. The northeastern front, including the Central Military District, was similarly withdrawn for resupply and redeployment to southeastern Ukraine. On 26 April, delegates from the US and 40 allied nations met at Ramstein Air Base in Germany to discuss the formation of a coalition that would provide economic support in addition to military supplies and refitting to Ukraine. Following Putin's Victory Day speech in early May, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said no short term resolution to

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5512-426: The Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. The following day, Russia announced that it was sending troops into these territories as "peacekeepers", and the Federation Council of Russia authorised the use of military force abroad. Before 5 a.m. Kyiv time on 24 February, Putin, in another speech , announced a " special military operation ", which effectively declared war on Ukraine. Putin said

5618-595: The Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians ", in which he called Ukraine "historically Russian lands" and claimed there is "no historical basis" for the "idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians". Days before the invasion, Putin claimed that Ukraine never had "real statehood" and that modern Ukraine was a mistake created by the Russian Bolsheviks . American historian Timothy Snyder described Putin's ideas as Russian imperialism . British journalist Edward Lucas described it as historical revisionism. Other observers found that Russia's leadership held

5724-507: The Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences 43.9% to 52.0% of the total population of Ukraine supports the idea of granting the status of state language to Russian. At the same time, this is not viewed as an important issue by most of Ukraine's citizens. On a cross-national survey involving ranking the 30 important political issues, the legal status of the Russian language was ranked 26th, with only 8% of respondents (concentrated primarily in Crimea and Donetsk) feeling that this

5830-406: The Little Russian, a contemporary term for the Ukrainian language , in the nine south-western Governorates and Kuban . Thus, when the Central Rada officials were outlining the future borders of the new Ukrainian state they took the results of the census in regards to the language and religion as determining factors. The ethnographic borders of Ukraine thus turned out to be almost twice as large as

5936-401: The Russian "retraction, resupply, and redeployment" of their troops from the Kyiv area should be interpreted as an expansion of Putin's plans for Ukraine, by redeploying and concentrating his forces on eastern Ukraine. Kyiv was generally left free from attack apart from isolated missile strikes. One did occur while UN Secretary-General António Guterres was visiting Kyiv on 28 April to discuss

6042-411: The Russian invasion", was not entirely sure of the comment's accuracy. Reporter Glenn Kessler said it came from "a single source, but on the surface it appears to be a good one." Russian forces advancing on Kyiv from Belarus gained control of the ghost town of Chernobyl . Russian Airborne Forces attempted to seize two key airfields near Kyiv, launching an airborne assault on Antonov Airport , and

6148-442: The Russian invasion, said that US intelligence agencies agree that the invasion will continue "for an extended period of time ... In short, the picture remains pretty grim and Russia's attitude toward the West is hardening." On 5 July, BBC reported that extensive destruction by the Russian invasion would cause immense financial damage to Ukraine's reconstruction economy, with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal telling nations at

6254-579: The Russo-Ukrainian border, Ukrainian forces claimed that on 28 February that 100 Russian armoured vehicles had been destroyed and dozens of soldiers captured following a Bayraktar TB2 drone and artillery attack on a large Russian column near Lebedyn in Sumy Oblast . Russian forces also attacked Okhtyrka , deploying thermobaric weapons . Russians in Ukraine Russians in Ukraine ( Russian : Русские в Украине , romanized :  Russkiye v Ukraine , Ukrainian : Росіяни в Україні , romanized :  Rosiiany v Ukraini ) constitute

6360-478: The Ukrainian SSR could choose to send their children whose native language was not Ukrainian to schools with Russian as the primary language of instruction. The territory of Ukraine was one of the main battlefields during World War II , and its population, including Russians, significantly decreased. The infrastructure was heavily damaged and it required human and capital resources to be rebuilt. This compounded with depopulation caused by two famines of 1931–1932 and

6466-427: The Verkhovna Rada – to pass a legislative package on education that bars primary education to all students in any language but Ukrainian. The move has been widely condemned by the international community as needlessly provocative as it forces the historically bilingual population of 45 million people who use Russian and Ukrainian interchangeably as mother tongues to become monolingual. The Unian reported that "A ban on

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6572-400: The agreement, choosing closer ties to the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union instead. This coerced withdrawal triggered a wave of protests known as Euromaidan , culminating in the Revolution of Dignity in February 2014. Yanukovych fled and was removed from power by parliament, ending up in Russia. Russian soldiers with no insignia occupied the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, and seized

6678-401: The aim of killing the Ukrainian president. The Ukrainian government said anti-war officials within Russia's FSB shared the plans with them. Zelenskyy appeared defiant in his first and following video message , showing in another on 25 February, that he and his cabinet is still in Kiyv. On 26 February NATO met and its countries pledged military aid for Ukraine and on 27 February Germany called

6784-645: The airport was halted in February 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Eastern Ukraine campaign Southern Ukraine campaign Other regions Naval operations Spillover & related incidents Eastern Ukraine campaign Southern Ukraine campaign Other regions Spillover & related incidents Eastern Ukraine campaign Southern Ukraine campaign Other regions Naval operations Spillover & related incidents Post-Minsk II conflict Attacks on civilians Related On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in

6890-466: The airport were damaged/destroyed, along with a single MiG-29 and a Pantsir-S1 air defense missile system. The information has not yet been verified independently. On 31 July 2024 the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck military storage near the airbase, causing fire detected by NASA 's FIRMS . RusLine provided limited scheduled commercial service to Moscow–Vnukovo as of 2018, and to Saint Petersburg and Sochi as of 2019. All commercial service at

6996-653: The area. At the same time, the discovery of coal in the Donets Basin also marked the commencement of a large-scale industrialization and an influx of workers from other parts of the Russian Empire. Nearly all of the major cities of southern and eastern Ukraine were established or developed in this period: Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporizhzhia ; 1770), Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro ; 1776), Kherson and Mariupol (1778), Sevastopol (1783), Simferopol and Novoaleksandrovka ( Melitopol ) (1784), Nikolayev ( Mykolaiv ; 1789), Odessa ( Odesa ; 1794), Lugansk ( Luhansk ; foundation of Luhansk plant in 1795). Both Russians and Ukrainians made up

7102-433: The authorities failed to comply with the demands, the Oblast council reserved itself the ″right to ask for help from the brotherly people of the Russian Federation.″ The pro-Russian protests in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine escalated into an armed separatist insurgency, which was backed by Russian special and regular forces. This led the Ukrainian government to launch

7208-447: The beginning of the Russian annexation of Crimea . Major Anti-Maidan protests took place in other Russian speaking major cities like Donetsk , Odesa , and Kharkiv . After the elected regional parliament of the Donetsk Oblast refused to comply with the demands of the pro-Russian protesters, the secessionists decided to create their own council consisting of unelected separatist individuals, which in its first session voted to conduct

7314-421: The border with Russia. The main infantry and tank attacks were launched in four spearheads, creating a northern front launched towards Kyiv from Belarus, a southern front from Crimea, a southeastern front from Russian-controlled Donbas, and an eastern front from Russia towards Kharkiv and Sumy . Russian vehicles were subsequently marked with a white Z military symbol (a non- Cyrillic letter ), believed to be

7420-405: The building, partially destroyed archives and pushed people out from the building. Their attackers declared that everything in Ukraine belonged to the Ukrainians, so the Russians and the Jews were not allowed to reside or have property there. The building was vandalized during the Papal Visit to Lviv in 2001, then in 2003 (5 times), 2004 (during the Orange Revolution ), 2005, 2006. After

7526-407: The bulk of the migrants – 31.8% and 42.0% respectively. The population of Novorossiya eventually became intermixed, and with Russification being the state policy, the Russian identity dominated in mixed families and communities. The Russian Empire officially regarded Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians as Little , Great and White Russians , which, according to the theory officially accepted in

7632-474: The city supported by airborne operations and a rapid mechanised advance from the north, but failed. The United States contacted Zelenskyy and offered to help him flee the country, lest the Russian Army attempt to kidnap or kill him on seizing Kyiv; Zelenskyy responded that "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." The Washington Post , which described the quote as "one of the most-cited lines of

7738-492: The conflict, but ceasefires and further negotiations repeatedly failed. There was a large Russian military build-up near the Ukraine border in March and April 2021, and again in both Russia and Belarus from October 2021 onward. Members of the Russian government, including Putin, repeatedly denied having plans to invade or attack Ukraine, with denials being issued up to the day before the invasion. The decision to invade Ukraine

7844-467: The country by April 2023, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. In late 2021, Russia massed troops near Ukraine's borders and issued demands including a ban on Ukraine ever joining the NATO military alliance. After repeatedly denying having plans to attack Ukraine, on 24 February 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a " special military operation ", saying that it

7950-514: The country's largest ethnic minority . This community forms the largest single Russian community outside of Russia in the world. In the 2001 Ukrainian census , 8,334,100 identified themselves as ethnic Russians (17.3% of the population of Ukraine ); this is the combined figure for persons originating from outside of Ukraine and the Ukrainian-born population declaring Russian ethnicity. Ethnic Russians live throughout Ukraine. They form

8056-466: The crowd. The regional council in Luhansk , in which the party of ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich held an absolute majority, voted to demand granting the Russian language the status as second official language, stopping ″the persecution of Berkut fighters″, disarming Maidan self-defense units and banning a number far-right political organizations like Svoboda and UNA-UNSO . If

8162-587: The first fortress in Eastern Ukraine. To defend the territory from Tatar raids the Russians built the Belgorod defensive line (1635–1658), and Ukrainians started fleeing to be under its defense. More Russian speakers appeared in northern, central and eastern Ukrainian territories during the late 17th century, following the Cossack Rebellion led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky . The uprising led to

8268-401: The first six months of 2015 this number grew by fifty people more. In the same time Ukrainian migration policies are complicated and limit the number of Russians who can successfully apply for a refugee status. The ultra-nationalist political party "Svoboda" has invoked radical Russophobic rhetoric and has electoral support enough to garner majority support in local councils, as seen in

8374-432: The illegal annexation of four partly-occupied provinces . In November, Ukraine liberated Kherson . In June 2023, Ukraine launched another counteroffensive in the southeast, but made few gains. After small but steady Russian advances in the east in the first half of 2024, Ukraine launched a cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk Oblast in August of that year. The United Nations Human Rights Office reports that Russia

8480-534: The invasion a historic watershed. That day in the evening Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrence into alert. The Russian invasion was unexpectedly met by fierce Ukrainian resistance. In Kyiv, Russia failed to take the city and was repulsed in the battles of Irpin , Hostomel , and Bucha . The Russians tried to encircle the capital, but its defenders under Oleksandr Syrskyi held their ground, effectively using Western Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to thin Russian supply lines and stall

8586-840: The invasion should be expected. Ukraine's reliance on Western-supplied equipment constrained operational effectiveness, as supplying countries feared that Ukraine would use Western-made matériel to strike targets in Russia. Military experts disagreed on the future of the conflict; some suggested that Ukraine should trade territory for peace, while others believed that Ukraine could maintain its resistance due to Russian losses. By 30 May, disparities between Russian and Ukrainian artillery were apparent, with Ukrainian artillery being vastly outgunned, in terms of both range and number. In response to US President Joe Biden 's indication that enhanced artillery would be provided to Ukraine, Putin said that Russia would expand its invasion front to include new cities in Ukraine. In apparent retribution, Putin ordered

8692-494: The invasion. In 2013, Ukraine's parliament overwhelmingly approved finalising an association agreement with the European Union (EU). Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it. Kremlin adviser Sergei Glazyev warned in September 2013 that if Ukraine signed the EU agreement, Russia would no longer acknowledge Ukraine's borders. In November, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych suddenly withdrew from signing

8798-460: The largely Russophone Ukrainian capital, although an estimated 70 percent of Ukraine's population nationwide consider that Russian should be taught at secondary schools along with Ukrainian. The Russian Cultural Center in Lviv has been attacked and vandalized on several occasions. On January 22, 1992, it was raided by UNA-UNSO led by the member of Lviv Oblast Council. UNA-UNSO members searched

8904-1071: The largest cities in the center and the south-east of the country (including Kyiv where Russians amount to 13.1% of the population ) remained largely Russophone as of 2003 . Russians constitute the majority in Crimea (71.7% in Sevastopol and 58.5% in the Autonomous republic of Crimea ). Outside of Crimea, Russians are the largest ethnic group in Donetsk (48.2%) and Makiivka (50.8%) in Donetsk Oblast , Ternivka (52.9%) in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast , Krasnodon (63.3%) and Sverdlovsk (Dovzhansk) (58.7%) and Krasnodon Raion (51.7%) and Stanytsia-Luhanska Raion (61.1%) in Luhansk Oblast , Izmail (43.7%) in Odesa Oblast , Putyvl Raion (51.6%) in Sumy Oblast . There are two notable sub-ethnic groups of Russians in Ukraine:

9010-464: The late October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election and did not return to Ukraine's government . According to 2006 survey by Research & Branding Group (Donetsk) 39% of Ukrainian citizens think that the rights of the Russophones are violated because the Russian language is not official in the country, whereas 38% of the citizens have the opposite position. According to annual surveys by

9116-411: The mixed Russian-Ukrainian schools. As of May 2007, only seven schools with Russian as the main language of instruction are left in Kyiv, with 17 more mixed language schools totaling 8,000 pupils, with the rest of the pupils attending the schools with Ukrainian being the only language of instruction. Among the latter pupils, 45,700 (or 18% of the total) study the Russian language as a separate subject in

9222-441: The north and east as "stalled." Advances from Chernihiv largely halted as a siege began there . Russian forces continued to advance on Kyiv from the northwest, capturing Bucha , Hostomel and Vorzel by 5 March, though Irpin remained contested as of 9 March. By 11 March, the lengthy convoy had largely dispersed and taken cover. On 16 March, Ukrainian forces began a counter-offensive to repel Russian forces. Unable to achieve

9328-513: The number of incidents directed against any other nation, including the Ukrainians and the Jews. According to the 2007 Comparative Survey of Ukraine and Europe only 0.1% of Ukrainian residents consider themselves belonging to a group which is discriminated by nationality. However, by April 2017 in a public opinion survey conducted by Rating Group Ukraine, 57 percent of Ukrainians polled expressed

9434-641: The offensive. On the southern front, Russian forces had captured the regional capital of Kherson by 2 March. A column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles was ambushed on 9 March in Brovary and sustained heavy losses that forced them to retreat. The Russian army adopted siege tactics on the western front around the key cities of Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, but failed to capture them due to stiff resistance and logistical setbacks. In Mykolaiv Oblast , Russian forces advanced as far as Voznesensk , but were repelled and pushed back south of Mykolaiv. On 25 March,

9540-406: The operation was to "protect the people" of the Russian-controlled breakaway republics. He falsely claimed that they had "been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime." Putin said that Russia was being threatened: he falsely claimed that Ukrainian government officials were neo-Nazis under Western control, that Ukraine was developing nuclear weapons, and that a hostile NATO

9646-616: The original Bohdan Khmelnytsky State incorporated into the Russian Empire during the 17-18th centuries. During World War I , a strong national movement managed to obtain some autonomous rights from the Russian government in Saint Petersburg . However, the October Revolution brought big changes for the new Russian Republic . Ukraine became a battleground between the two main Russian war factions during

9752-463: The party. Those were the "dominant-nation chauvinism", "economic and cultural inequality" of the nationalities and the "survivals of nationalism among a number of nations which have borne the heavy yoke of national oppression". In Ukraine's case, both threats came, respectively, from the south and the east: Novorossiya with its historically strong Russian cultural influence, and the traditional Ukrainian center and west. These considerations brought about

9858-569: The sole official state language of all Ukraine, including Crimea which is populated by a Russian-speaking majority. Repeal of the law was met with great disdain in Southern and Eastern Ukraine. The Christian Science Monitor reported: "The [adoption of this bill] only served to infuriate Russian-speaking regions, [who] saw the move as more evidence that the antigovernment protests in Kiev that toppled Yanukovich's government were intent on pressing for

9964-411: The surveys taken yearly between 1997 and 2005 consistently indicated that the attitude to the idea of Ukraine joining the union of Russia and Belarus is more positive (slightly over 50%) than negative (slightly under 30%). Since Dignity Revolution the Russian government dramatically increased the anti-opposition campaign which resulted in politically motivated cases against Russian liberal opposition. As

10070-407: The survivors of the siege of Mariupol with Zelenskyy. One person was killed and several were injured in the attack. Russian forces advanced into Chernihiv Oblast on 24 February, besieging its administrative capital within four days of fighting . On 25 February Ukrainian forces lost control over Konotop . As street fighting took place in the city of Sumy , just 35 kilometres (22 mi) from

10176-476: The use of cultural products, namely movies, books, songs, etc., in the Russian language in the public has been introduced" in the Lviv Oblast in September 2018. Some authors born in Ukraine who write in the Russian language, notably Marina and Sergey Dyachenko and Vera Kamsha , were born in Ukraine, but moved to Russia at some point. Marina and Sergey Dyachenko moved to California. In March 2022, during

10282-404: The war in Donbas sparked a wave of Russian nationalism . Analyst Vladimir Socor called Putin's 2014 speech following the annexation a "manifesto of Greater-Russia irredentism ". Putin began referring to " Novorossiya " (New Russia), a former Russian imperial territory that covered much of southern Ukraine. Russian-backed forces were influenced by Russian neo-imperialism and sought to create

10388-414: The yearly sociological surveys has been consistently showing that Russians are, on the average, least socially distanced within Ukraine except the Ukrainians themselves. The same survey has shown that, in fact, that Ukrainian people are slightly more comfortable accepting Russians into their families than they are accepting Ukrainians living abroad . Such social attitude correlates with the political one as

10494-505: Was an important issue. Russian continues to dominate in several regions and in Ukrainian businesses, in leading Ukrainian magazines, and other printed media. Russian language in Ukraine still dominates the everyday life in some areas of the country. On February 23, 2014, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a bill to repeal the 2012 law on minority languages , which—if signed by the Ukrainian president—would have established Ukrainian as

10600-407: Was building up its forces and military infrastructure in Ukraine. He said Russia sought the "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine, and espoused views challenging the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. Putin said he had no plans to occupy Ukraine. The invasion began within minutes of Putin's speech. The invasion began at dawn on 24 February. It was described as the biggest attack on

10706-407: Was claiming in 1918. The new borders completely included Novorossiya (including the short-lived Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic ) and other neighboring provinces, which contained a substantial number of ethnic Russians. In his 1923 speech devoted to the national and ethnic issues in the party and state affairs, Joseph Stalin identified several obstacles in implementing the national program of

10812-473: Was proclaimed. The Ukrainian SSR was de jure a separate state until the formation of the USSR in 1922 and survived until the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Lenin insisted that ignoring the national question in Ukraine would endanger the support of the Revolution among the Ukrainian population and thus new borders of Soviet Ukraine were established to the extent that the Ukrainian People's Republic

10918-519: Was reportedly made by Putin and a small group of war hawks or siloviki in Putin's inner circle, including national security adviser Nikolai Patrushev and defence minister Sergei Shoigu . Reports of an alleged leak of Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) documents by US intelligence sources said that the FSB had not been aware of Putin's plan to invade. In July 2021, Putin published an essay " On

11024-755: Was the main threat to Soviet unity. Consequently, many changes introduced during the Ukrainization period were reversed: Russian language schools, libraries and newspapers were restored and even increased in number. Changes were brought territorially as well, forcing the Ukrainian SSR to cede some territories to the RSFSR. Thousands of ethnic Ukrainians were deported to the far east of the Soviet Union, numerous villages with Ukrainian majority were eliminated with Holodomor , while remaining Ukrainians were subjected to discrimination. During this period parents in

11130-529: Was to support the Russian-backed breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk , whose paramilitary forces had been fighting Ukraine in the Donbas conflict since 2014. Putin espoused irredentist and neo-imperialist views challenging Ukraine's legitimacy as a state, falsely claimed that Ukraine was governed by neo-Nazis persecuting the Russian minority , and said that Russia's goal was to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine. Russian air strikes and

11236-439: Was uncovered after their withdrawal. In the southeast, Russia launched an offensive in the Donbas and captured Mariupol after a destructive siege . Russia continued to bomb military and civilian targets far from the front, and struck the energy grid through the winter months. In late 2022, Ukraine launched successful counteroffensives in the south and east , liberating most of Kharkiv province . Soon after, Russia announced

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