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.

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.

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.

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.