The Beginning

• October 2021 - Russia brought troops to the border for a "training".

• Russia declared war on Ukraine in February 24, 2022 after months at the border.

• Russia illegally "annexed" 4 areas of Ukraine on September 30th, 2022:

  • Luhansk and Donetsk  - "annexed" by Russia and now claim to be Russian territory.  Some would argue that they weren't taken from Ukraine because they claimed independence from Ukraine in 2014, but this independence was not recognized by the majority of the world.

  • Other areas “annexed” by Russia are Zaporizhia and Kherson

    • *All "annexed" areas on the border side closest to Russia (see images below)

    • **Crimea was "annexed" by Russia in 2014 and is still under Russian control

• Helpful Info: Annexed means incorporation of a new territory into a larger political entity.  This can be legal but how Russia "annexed" the 4 territories as well as Crimea is widely considered by most countries to be illegal under international law.

What's Happening Now?

• Russia and Ukraine have essentially been at a border stalemate since 2024, but fighting and casualties still occur (just no significantly large pieces of land have been annexed).

• Peace talks and treaties have been constantly discussed from as early as February 28, 2022, but none of them have ever resulted in anything significant.

• Like most wars in this day and age, this is fought mostly electronically/with drones, but as stated before, there are still infantry and civilian casualties (seen below).

Statistics

• Russia is estimated to have 250,000 soldiers killed and around 800,000 wounded, but the government will not release official numbers.

• Ukraine is estimated to have around 80,000 soldiers killed and around 320,000 wounded.

• Russia - most likely over 400 civilians killed

• Ukraine - around 50,000 civilians either killed or wounded 

• Russia - Over $200 billion is estimated to have been spent on the war, but again, the government will not release official numbers.

• Ukraine - Over $500 billion is estimated to have been spent on the war, most coming from aid from strong allies like the US, Germany, and the UK.