The large-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine
After eight years of occupation of Crimea and part of Donbas, the Kremlin decided to extend its armed aggression to the entire territory of Ukraine and to destroy Ukrainian statehood as such.
On the morning of February 24, after massive rocket attacks, Russian regular troops attacked Ukraine simultaneously from several directions, including Belarus, which, under the leadership of self-proclaimed "president" Lukashenko, has become Russia's henchman in this war of aggression.
By starting the largest war on the European continent since World War II, Moscow undermined European and world security, violated every foundation of international law, and brought the planet to the brink of nuclear war by attacking Ukraine, to which it had given security guarantees under the Budapest Memorandum.
The Kremlin's plans to take over Kyiv in three days did not materialize.
Ukrainian defenders are reclaiming from Russian forces the territories seized by Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. A robust international coalition has been formed in support of Ukraine, providing our country with systematic military-technical, financial and humanitarian assistance.
The liberation of Ukraine's sovereign territory will continue until Ukraine restores its territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders, including territories temporarily occupied by Russia since February 2014.
Suffering one after another military defeat on the battlefield, the Russian Federation resorted to outright terrorism, crimes against humanity and massive violations of international humanitarian law, deliberately attacking critical civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainian citizens remain without electricity, water, heating and communication on a daily basis.
The Kremlin refuses to recognize the reality and the inevitable defeat in the war it has started. The occupying forces of the Russian Federation continue to attack Ukraine and kill the civilian population and Ukrainian defenders. According to official data, which do not take into account victims in the territories occupied by the Russian Federation inaccessible to the Ukrainian authorities, over 8 000 civilians have been killed, and more than 12 000 wounded.
The Russian invaders destroyed or damaged more than 60 000 objects of civil infrastructure in Ukraine - residential buildings, roads and bridges, educational and medical institutions, cultural and religious facilities, gas pipelines, water pipelines and energy networks. Almost a third of Ukraine's territory (175 000 square kilometers) needs demining. $37 billion in damage was caused to the environment.
In the territories newly occupied in 2022, Russia applies the same practices it has used in Crimea and Donbas since 2014: it deploys the occupation administration, imposes Russian passports and legislation, suppresses the Ukrainian language, culture and education, and carries out forced mobilization.
Russian occupation forces carry out punitive and "filtration" measures, deportation of Ukrainian citizens, kill and maim them, separate families. Numerous confirmations of the occupiers' cruelty were recorded in the reports of a number of reputable international organizations.
Keeping the international community's attention on these and many other crimes of the Putin regime against Ukraine and Ukrainians is necessary, among other things, to bring the perpetrators to justice. Without punishing the aggressor state and its criminal regime, the world risks witnessing similar wars of aggression again and again.