2014 – Present
ONGOINGThe Russia-Ukraine war began in 2014 with Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea and fighting in the Donbas; this entry’s event set focuses on the full-scale phase launched on February 24, 2022. Russia failed to seize Kyiv and withdrew from northern Ukraine, but it captured Kherson and other cities before Ukraine’s 2022 counteroffensives recovered large areas around Kharkiv and the west bank of Kherson. The war then became a prolonged contest of artillery, drones, fortifications, and industrial capacity. Ukraine’s Kursk incursion began in August 2024 and its principal salient contracted in March 2025. Russia claimed Pokrovsk in late 2025; independent assessments placed its capture in early 2026. In February 2026 Ukraine launched its first significant counteroffensive since 2023, recovering over 400 km2 in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and nearly liberating the entire region. In May 2026, for the first time since autumn 2023, Russia lost more territory than it gained in a single month. Western intelligence estimated total Russian casualties at approximately one million killed and wounded by February 2026, with combined casualties for both sides potentially reaching two million. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shuttled between Moscow and Kyiv in September 2026 pushing for trilateral talks, but no agreement was reached. The war continued into its fifth year with no resolution in sight as of September 7, 2026.
Same Theater
The Eastern Front of WWII raged across the same Ukrainian and Russian territory. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Crimea were all major WWII battlegrounds. Russia's combined-arms doctrine descends directly from Soviet deep-battle theory; Ukraine's defenses mirror partisan and irregular resistance that proved decisive in 1941–44.
Direct Predecessor
NATO's post-Cold War expansion into Eastern Europe sits at the center of Russia's stated rationale for the invasion. Ukraine's independence in 1991, its drift toward the West, and its aspirations for NATO membership culminated in this war — the Cold War's unresolved tensions made lethal.
Strategic Echo
Napoleon's catastrophic 1812 Russian campaign — overextension, brutal winter, logistical collapse — is a template Russia's generals ignored. The failed initial 3-day blitz on Kyiv in February 2022 echoed that overreach almost perfectly: a rapid capital strike that collapsed under determined resistance.
Chapter-by-chapter narrative with maps, primary sources, and key events.
Explore battles on a live map with a timeline slider and territory overlays.
Deep-dive into every major engagement — commanders, casualties, significance.
Biographical flip cards with real portraits, facts, and full biography pages.
Trace each figure's full life journey — birth, education, battles, and death — on a live map.
Scroll-driven visualization of casualties — each dot a thousand lives.
Weapons, war machines, and the military innovations that defined how this conflict was fought.
Cause-and-effect chains tracing the war's long shadow on history.
War crimes, massacres, and the darkest chapters of this conflict — documented for history.
The Russia-Ukraine war began in 2014 with Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea and fighting in the Donbas; this entry’s event set focuses on the full-scale phase launched on February 24, 2022. Russia failed to seize Kyiv and withdrew from northern Ukraine, but it captured Kherson and other cities before Ukraine’s 2022 counteroffensives recovered large areas around Kharkiv and the west bank of Kherson. The war then became a prolonged contest of artillery, drones, fortifications, and industrial capacity. Ukraine’s Kursk incursion began in August 2024 and its principal salient contracted in March 2025. Russia claimed Pokrovsk in late 2025; independent assessments placed its capture in early 2026. In February 2026 Ukraine launched its first significant counteroffensive since 2023, recovering over 400 km2 in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and nearly liberating the entire region. In May 2026, for the first time since autumn 2023, Russia lost more territory than it gained in a single month. Western intelligence estimated total Russian casualties at approximately one million killed and wounded by February 2026, with combined casualties for both sides potentially reaching two million. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shuttled between Moscow and Kyiv in September 2026 pushing for trilateral talks, but no agreement was reached. The war continued into its fifth year with no resolution in sight as of September 7, 2026.
Russia-Ukraine War was fought from 2014 to the present day.
Russia-Ukraine War was fought between Ukraine and Russia.
An estimated 570,000 people died in Russia-Ukraine War, including roughly 550,000 military and 20,000 civilian deaths. Figures are scholarly estimates and vary by source.
Major engagements included Battle of Pokrovsk, The 2026 Offensives, Battle of Bakhmut, and Zaporizhzhia Counteroffensive.