On February 24, 2022, the Russian troops invaded Ukraine. The Ukrainian government decided on the general mobilization of the army; males between the ages of 18 and 60 can be called up for military service and are not allowed to leave the country. More than 1 million people have now fled, the UNHCR says. In this article, we will answer some eight questions about the Ukraine war, stay tuned!
Beginning on November 21, 2013, there were protests in Kyiv against the then Ukrainian government under President Viktor Yanukovych, who was seen as close to the Kremlin. The reason for this has initially been the refusal to ratify the EU Association Agreement. The then government took violent action against the demonstrators.
In the months that followed, protests erupted en masse throughout the country, particularly in Kyiv. On Independence Square in the city center (Ukrainian: Maidan Nesaleshnosti), there were bloody clashes with special police units in which more than 100 demonstrators died. By February 21, 2014, Yanukovych resigned from office and fled Ukraine.
Just a few days later, Russian special forces began to occupy the Crimean peninsula. They established a new regional government. On March 6, 2014, the regional parliament decided to join Crimea in the Russian Federation. Simultaneously, on March 16, they scheduled a referendum in which the majority Russian-speaking population was to decide on the future status of Crimea.
Overall, over 95 percent are said to have voted in favor of annexation to Russia. That referendum has not been recognized internationally. The Russian Human Rights Council, working for Vladimir Putin, cast doubt on the plausibility of the voting results in a report. Russia has considered Crimea part of its own territory since ratifying an accession treaty on March 21, 2014. On the international level, Crimea’s “accession” to the Russian Federation is judged to be an annexation in violation of international law. Those events marked a historical rupture in Russian-Ukrainian relations.
Also, in the spring of 2014, riots broke out in eastern and southern Ukraine. Pro-Russian separatists proclaimed so-called “people’s republics” in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. There were violent clashes. In summer 2014, a war began in eastern Ukraine that has lasted to the present day and has so far claimed 14,000 lives.
It is regarded as very likely that the Russian army actively intervened in this conflict with regular forces from August 2014 at the latest. Russia itself has always denied direct involvement. From this point on, Ukraine’s army increasingly went on the defensive. During the Battle of Ilovaysk from August 10 to September 2, 2014, Ukraine’s forces were ambushed, and hundreds of people died within a few days.