February 24 – March 30, 2022 · Northern Ukraine Theater

Russia's opening gambit — a rapid armored thrust from Belarus toward the Ukrainian capital, accompanied by an airborne seizure of Hostomel Airport. The plan called for Kyiv's fall within 72 hours. Instead, Ukrainian defenders, armed with Javelin missiles and fierce resolve, halted the advance. Russian columns ran out of fuel and were ambushed on clogged roads. The airborne bridgehead at Hostomel was contested and destroyed. After five weeks, Russian forces withdrew completely, having failed to take a single major Ukrainian city.

February 24 – May 16, 2022 · Southern Ukraine Theater

The port city of Mariupol was surrounded within days of the invasion's start. The Ukrainian garrison — primarily the Azov Regiment and marine infantry — withdrew to the vast Azovstal steel plant and conducted a siege-within-a-siege that lasted 82 days. The plant's underground tunnels sheltered fighters and hundreds of civilians. Russia bombarded the complex with artillery, air strikes, and thermobaric weapons. The world watched as the defenders — massively outgunned and out of ammunition — finally negotiated a surrender on May 16.

February 24 – May 14, 2022 · Northeastern Ukraine Theater

Ukraine's second city — just 40 km from the Russian border — faced intense fighting in the opening weeks of the invasion. Russian forces entered Kharkiv's outskirts and shelled the city center extensively, destroying civilian infrastructure, the central market, and government buildings. However, Ukrainian forces prevented Russian troops from taking the city itself. Sustained artillery bombardment of residential areas produced large civilian casualties. By mid-May, Ukrainian counterattacks had pushed Russian forces back toward the border, out of artillery range of the city.

February 24 – June 30, 2022 · Black Sea Theater

A tiny Ukrainian island outpost in the Black Sea became the war's first legendary moment. On February 24, the Russian warship Moskva and a border guard vessel demanded the island's 13-man garrison surrender. The garrison's radio response — 'Russian warship, go f**k yourself' — went viral globally and became a rallying cry. The garrison was captured, but the island became a contested symbol. Ukraine launched repeated drone and missile strikes on Russian naval assets supporting the island occupation. On June 30, Russia withdrew from Snake Island entirely, citing 'goodwill gesture' — in reality abandoning an exposed position Ukraine had made untenable.

May 2022 – May 20, 2023 · Eastern Ukraine (Donbas) Theater

The longest and deadliest battle of the war. The Wagner Group, Prigozhin's mercenary army that recruited convicts from Russian prisons, led the assault on the small city of Bakhmut over ten months of brutal urban and trench warfare. Ukraine chose to fight for every block, turning Bakhmut into an attritional nightmare for both sides. Entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble. By the time Wagner raised its flag over the city's ruins on May 20, both sides had suffered catastrophic losses estimated at tens of thousands each.

May 12 – July 3, 2022 · Eastern Ukraine (Luhansk Oblast) Theater

Following the fall of the Kyiv front, Russia concentrated force on capturing the Luhansk Oblast's administrative capital. The city became a miniature Stalingrad — Ukrainian forces clung to the Azot chemical plant and its tunnel system in a familiar pattern of industrial-structure last stands. For weeks, Ukraine controlled only the plant and a single bridge to the sister city of Lysychansk. Despite fierce resistance, Ukrainian forces were ordered to withdraw on July 3 to avoid encirclement, and Russia captured both cities by early July.

August – November 11, 2022 · Southern Ukraine Theater

Ukraine's southern counteroffensive methodically cut Russian supply lines to Kherson Oblast, isolating the Russian garrison west of the Dnipro River. Bridges and pontoon crossings were destroyed by HIMARS rocket artillery. Russian General Surovikin — newly appointed as overall commander — made the strategically sound but politically humiliating decision to withdraw across the river to avoid encirclement. On November 11, Ukrainian forces entered Kherson city to jubilant crowds.

September 6 – October 2, 2022 · Northeastern Ukraine Theater

One of the most dramatic military operations of the 21st century. Ukrainian forces, having lured Russian attention to the south with a publicized Kherson offensive, secretly massed forces in Kharkiv Oblast and struck with stunning speed on September 6. The Russian line collapsed instantly — Russian troops abandoned equipment, vehicles, and ammunition depots as Ukrainian forces advanced 50–60 km per day in some sectors. The major logistics hub of Izyum, holding the equivalent of a division's ammunition, was abandoned in 24 hours. Ukraine liberated over 8,000 km² in less than two weeks — more territory than Russia had captured in six months of fighting.

June 4 – November 2023 · Southern Ukraine (Zaporizhzhia Oblast) Theater

Ukraine's long-anticipated summer counteroffensive aimed to cut through Russian defenses in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and reach the Sea of Azov, severing Russia's land bridge to Crimea. Equipped with Western tanks including Leopard 2s and Bradley IFVs and months of NATO training, the offensive launched on June 4 into a system of defenses far deeper and denser than Western military planners had anticipated. Extensive minefields, layered anti-tank obstacles, and mutually supporting artillery positions blunted Ukrainian mechanized formations before they could close with the main defensive line. By autumn, Ukraine had liberated only a handful of villages at great cost in men and equipment.

October 2023 – February 17, 2024 · Eastern Ukraine (Donbas) Theater

Russia encircled and captured Avdiivka — a fortified industrial town that had been a Ukrainian stronghold since 2014 — in a grinding four-month operation. The battle bore close resemblance to Bakhmut: overwhelming Russian artillery, relentless infantry assaults, and Ukraine's decision to defend as long as possible before ordering a tactical withdrawal. Ukraine's ammunition shortage, caused by the stalling of US Congressional aid, was critical. The garrison withdrew on February 17, 2024.

August 6 – October 2024 · Kursk Oblast, Russia Theater

In a stunning surprise, Ukrainian forces crossed the Russian border into Kursk Oblast on August 6, 2024, seizing hundreds of square kilometers of Russian territory. The operation — the first foreign military seizure of Russian soil since WWII — shocked Moscow and forced Russia to divert forces from the Ukrainian front. Ukraine held a corridor of Russian territory for weeks, taking Russian civilians as bargaining chips for prisoner exchanges. Russia eventually committed North Korean troops to the counteroffensive, and Ukraine withdrew in late 2024.