--- title: "2014 Ukraine Crisis: The Real Beginning of the War with Russia" description: "In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a \"special military operation\" with the broad goals of liberating two separatist republics, demilitarizing, and \"denazifying\" the country of Ukraine. Since the moment Russian forces crossed the border, social media has been covered with footage from the country, protests have been carried out across Europe and North America, and news outlets continue to provide live updates as events unfold day by day. But 2022 is not the year that Russia's military intervention in Ukraine began. The invasion is an escalation of fighting that began eight years earlier — in 2014 — a revolution, large-scale separatist battles, and even a downed passenger jet that were all part of Russia's \"undeclared war.\"\n\n## Key Takeaways\n- Ukraine gave up 1,700 inherited Soviet nuclear warheads under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, receiving sovereignty guarantees from Russia, Britain, and the United States in return.\n- Russian special forces — the 'little green men' — seized Crimea in late February 2014 without firing a shot, taking the entire peninsula before Ukraine could mount a meaningful response.\n- Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 on board; a Dutch investigation traced the Buk missile to the 53rd Anti-air Brigade of the Russian Federation.\n- The defeat at Ilovaisk cost Ukraine around 1,000 casualties and directly drove the signing of the Minsk Agreements on September 5, 2014, which failed almost immediately.\n- By 2021, the eight-year conflict had killed an estimated 4,600 Ukrainians, 5,800 separatists, and 500 Russians, and left nearly 2 million Ukrainians internally displaced.\n\n## Soviet Collapse, Nuclear Disarmament, and the Budapest Memorandum\n\nIn December 1991, the world's jaw dropped when the Soviet Union officially dissolved after 70 years of dominance. The famous red flag with the sickle and hammer was lowered for the final time over the Kremlin, replaced by the flag of the Russian Federation. With this collapse, 15 countries gained their independence, suddenly able to govern themselves for the first time in generations, but there were a lot of problems to iron out first. Ukraine had been the second most powerful Soviet Republic, with large industrial complexes and military installations, and when the USSR fell apart, Ukraine was left with a lot of Soviet weaponry lying around. Most notably, they inherited a staggering 1,700 nuclear warheads, over a hundred of which were capable of being launched on intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to dismantle its nuclear arsenal and join the NPT, a treaty that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. In agreement with the treaty, Ukraine pledged to never construct new nuclear bombs, and to only use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. In tandem with the nuclear treaty, Ukraine also signed the Budapest Memorandum. The Budapest Memorandum was a security assurance signed by Ukraine, Russia, Britain, and the United States. It was an agreement by all four countries to recognize and protect the sovereignty of Ukraine, giving the country the protection it needed to safely give up its newly acquired weapons of mass destruction. Giving Ukraine security in exchange for destroying its nukes was in everyone's best interest at the time. The United States and Britain were concerned about potential misuse of the weapons, Russia feared that they could be the target of such weapons, and Ukraine didn't have the budget to properly maintain them, so these agreements benefited every party involved — at the time.\n\n## The 2004 Orange Revolution and the Poisoning of Yushchenko\n\nUkraine, like many other ex-USSR states, was still rife with political corruption, and the 2004 presidential election would prove to be no different. After the first round, the election was narrowed down to two candidates: Viktor Yanukovych, who wanted to strengthen ties with Russia, and Viktor Yushchenko, who wanted to strengthen ties with the West. In the months leading up to the polls, Yushchenko was mysteriously poisoned with TCDD dioxin, an herbicide that is also found in the infamous Agent Orange that the US used in Vietnam. Yushchenko survived the assassination attempt, but his health had been seriously impacted and his face even remains disfigured to this day. After the second round of votes were counted in November, it was announced that Viktor Yanukovych had won, but it was a suspicious victory. The number of votes between the two rounds had drastic changes in certain districts, such as a double or triple increase in votes; there were widespread reports of intimidation at the polls by local authorities, threatening to take away government pensions if voters didn't choose Yanukovych, and there were reports of widespread corruption among the vote counters. Vladimir Putin had even congratulated Yanukovych before his victory was declared. The European Union stated that they would not recognize the election as legitimate due to the suspected fraud, while Russia said that they supported Ukraine's new president. Once word of the fraud got out to the public, it sparked mass outrage, and thousands of Ukrainian citizens took to the streets in huge protests, a period that later became known as the Orange Revolution. The largest of these protests, which took place in Kyiv's Independence Square, boasted more than 500,000 total participants over the weeks. In total, it is estimated that 19% of Ukraine's entire population had a part in the Orange Revolution. After a month of public outcry, Ukraine's parliament nullified the second round results and announced an election re-run. This time around, the world was watching carefully, and once the votes were counted, the original decision was overturned. Yushchenko, still recovering from his poisoning, was declared the new winner with 52% of the vote. Yanukovych, with only 44%, officially conceded defeat. The Orange Revolution, despite its historic size, had remained entirely peaceful, with no protestors and no police officers being injured or killed throughout the entire month of protests.\n\n## Euromaidan, the Revolution of Dignity, and Yanukovych's Flight\n\nThe defeated candidate Yanukovych tried his luck again in the 2010 elections, and this time he won, fair and square. In Ukraine's eternal tug of war between Russia and the West, this victory was seen as a big step in Russia's direction, as Yanukovych pledged to create closer ties with Putin. But this didn't exactly represent the desire of the population. Just a few years into his presidency, Yanukovych suddenly decided not to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, a plan that would slowly bring Ukraine's economy, legal, and social systems closer to the European Union, and hopefully pave the way for Ukraine's eventual membership. Despite parliament voting overwhelmingly in support of the agreement, he cancelled the signing at the last minute and announced that instead he intended to join the Customs Union of Russia, a similar agreement but with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Much of the public were once again outraged and took to the streets. After the Orange Revolution, the people knew that they had the power to force change in their government and were determined to do so again. Thousands of people once again filled Kyiv's Independence Square, setting up roadblocks, kitchens, first aid camps, and they settled in for the long haul. On November 30, 2013, the demonstration, which up to this point had been fairly peaceful, escalated into a violent riot. Police began using water cannons and firing rubber bullets into the crowds, and the people started fighting back and setting fires. By mid-January 2014, there were several deaths during each protest. Shockingly, among the dead, some bullet wounds were identified as rounds fired from a Dragunov sniper rifle. These incidents were isolated but soon became commonplace when Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko announced that he had authorized the use of live rounds on protestors. In a week known as the Revolution of Dignity, as many as 50,000 protestors gathered and marched toward parliament. They were confronted by the Berkut Special Police, and violence erupted like never before. Protestors fought with bats and threw Molotov cocktails, and police fired on them with snipers and automatic weapons. Shielded phalanxes were overrun by the crowds, and protestors even set off makeshift bombs. By February 22nd, the protestors had taken control of most of the city, and President Yanukovych had fled the capital. At the end of the revolution, 108 protestors were dead, 1,900 were injured, and 300 were missing. Parliament voted 328-0 to impeach him. Yanukovych soon resurfaced in Russia, claiming that he was overthrown in a manner resembling the rise of the Nazi Party. He asserted that he was still the acting president, and several prominent figures from eastern Ukraine voiced their support for both him and Russia.\n\n## The Annexation of Crimea and the Little Green Men\n\nSoon after, supporters of Yanukovych stormed administrative centers of the eastern cities Donetsk and Luhansk, raising Russian flags over them. Up to this point, Putin hadn't directly intervened — he had only voiced his political support for Yanukovych. However, that changed in late February 2014, when Putin held a meeting with his advisors, saying at the end, \"we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia.\" Taking advantage of the chaos in Ukraine, Russian special forces moved quietly into Crimea. These soldiers weren't wearing any identifying markers, only a green uniform, later earning them the nickname \"zeleni cholovichky\" or \"the little green men.\" Amid both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protests taking place across Crimea, the little green men captured key checkpoints in the region, cut off roads to mainland Ukraine, and raised the Russian flag over parliament. Within hours, Crimea was completely isolated from Ukraine, and even its TV channels were severed and replaced with Russian media. Soon, Putin received authorization for the full use of the military. Helicopters and armored vehicles quickly arrived, and any remaining Ukrainian troops were instantly besieged and hopelessly outnumbered. After a month, all Ukrainian forces had surrendered or been captured, and Crimea was completely under Russian control. There wasn't even any shooting — Russia stormed in so quickly that they took the entire peninsula before Ukraine had much of a chance to respond. With Crimea out of the way, Putin turned his eyes to his next goal — the growing unrest in eastern Ukraine.\n\n## Separatist War in Donbas: The DPR, the LPR, and the Battle for Sloviansk\n\nTo understand how the movement in eastern Ukraine evolved into a separatist war, it is crucial to understand the political divide. The country has long been politically divided between those who wanted to move closer to the West and those who wanted to be closer to Russia. In general, those who live in western Ukraine are more in favor of the EU and NATO, while those in the far east were more in favor of closer ties with Russia. In addition to geography, age also plays a big role — younger Ukrainians are far more likely to support ties with Europe. However, these were merely political preferences; Ukraine was still united in the idea that it should remain an independent, sovereign nation, apart from a select few groups. Soon, there were two major groups claiming the right to leave Ukraine and join Russia: the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic, or the DPR and the LPR. These groups had the collective aim of liberating the Donbas, the eastern portion of Ukraine that borders Russia. Putin publicly voiced his support for these republics, referred to their combined region as Novorossiya, or New Russia, and began supplying them with automatic weapons and explosives. On April 12, 2014, the separatists made their first moves and once again captured administrative buildings in dozens of cities and towns in eastern Ukraine. They raided police armories and were in possession of hundreds of guns, handing them out to anyone willing to fight. In response, the Ukrainian government organized the Anti-Terrorist Operation, or ATO, and dispatched police and military to recapture the cities, the first of which was Sloviansk. The separatists in Sloviansk were given an ultimatum — retreat from the city within 48 hours, or be attacked. When they refused to budge, Ukrainian forces began encircling the city. The DPR threatened to \"turn Sloviansk into Stalingrad\" if Ukrainian troops entered the city. On May 2nd, a Ukrainian force of 15,000 men launched an all-out offensive to retake the city, with reports of gunfire, mortar, and even attack helicopters over Sloviansk. But the rebels were a lot more heavily armed than previously thought — they suddenly retaliated with several armored vehicles and shot down multiple helicopters with Russian-supplied anti-air rockets. After several weeks of fighting, the separatists were overwhelmed and fled the city, retreating to Donetsk. Around 50 separatists had been killed at Sloviansk, and the Ukrainian military had around 90 casualties.\n\n## Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and the Battle for Shakhtarsk Raion\n\nAfter Sloviansk, the Ukrainian military went on to defeat separatists in several skirmishes. They kicked the rebels out of Kramatorsk, recaptured the Donetsk International Airport, and regained complete control of the southern city Mariupol. But the rebels still held huge swaths of territory and several cities, and the numbers of separatists continued to grow every day. It was also becoming obvious that not all of the rebels were even Ukrainian. Captured separatists were often found to be Russian, Serbian, Chechen, or even South Ossetian. This was no longer just an insurgency, but now a battle with foreign mercenaries. Ukraine decided that to effectively quell the rebellion, they needed to cut off the supply lines being delivered from Russia through the Shakhtarsk Raion. The battle for the supply routes began in the summer of 2014, spread over a huge area, with the most intense fighting focused on a strategically important hill overlooking the region. Ukrainian jets were involved in bombing runs, several of which were shot down by rebel anti-air rockets. The rebels were the most equipped yet and had several tanks on the scene. Then, on July 17th, tragedy struck. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 departed from Amsterdam heading for Kuala Lumpur. While flying over eastern Ukraine, the passenger jet was struck with a missile, destroying the plane and killing all 298 on board. A Dutch investigation team found that the rocket had been fired from a Buk surface-to-air missile system belonging to the 53rd Anti-air Brigade of the Russian Federation. The system had been delivered to the battle that same day and returned to Russia after firing. This was the only type of missile in the region with the capabilities to reach the altitude that a passenger jet flies at, and with the vehicle operating on its own it would have had trouble distinguishing friend from foe. The Russian government denied any involvement and vetoed an international tribunal at the UN Security Council. The battle for Shakhtarsk Raion raged on, and just when it seemed that the Ukrainian army had the upper hand, the separatists launched a counter-offensive, taking back any lost land, capturing the strategic hill, and pushing forward. In the coming weeks, Ukraine slowly retreated, fighting through the woods until being forced to fall back and admit defeat.\n\n## The Siege of Ilovaisk and the Push Toward Minsk\n\nBy mid-August, through a series of victories and defeats, the Ukrainian government had made immense progress in taking back territory from the insurgents. They were even making plans to retake their border checkpoints, which were some of the most heavily fortified separatist positions. Faced with the likelihood of a complete Ukrainian victory, the leader of the DPR, Igor Girkin, personally addressed Vladimir Putin and asked for stronger support, saying: \"Losing this war on the territory that President Vladimir Putin personally named New Russia would threaten the Kremlin's power and, personally, the power of the president.\" Soon there were much higher numbers of standard Russian troops and vehicles being spotted inside Ukraine's borders. Russia still denied this, even when faced with direct evidence. At one point, a group of Russian paratroopers was captured, and when the Ukrainian government released photos of them and their documents, Russia stated that the men had crossed the border \"by accident.\" On August 7th, Ukrainian soldiers began their assault on the city of Ilovaisk. After a couple weeks, they reported complete control, but this was disputed by the DPR, and shootouts in the streets were happening every hour of every day. Urban warfare continued for three whole weeks until Ilovaisk was completely encircled by a massive number of both separatist and Russian forces. After a Ukrainian attempt to rescue the trapped troops ended in failure, the siege turned into a textbook artillery barrage, and hundreds of Ukrainian casualties mounted up as buildings were levelled one after another. By the end, the Ukrainian forces were almost entirely wiped out. Ukraine had suffered around 1,000 casualties, while the rebels and Russians had around 850. The defense minister soon resigned due to his failure to coordinate a proper response during the siege. The defeat at Ilovaisk is regarded as one of the big motivations for Ukraine to push even harder for peaceful negotiations, and eventually this led to the signing of the Minsk Agreements on September 5th. Signed by representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and both separatist republics, the agreements drew a line between the two forces, creating a 15-kilometer-wide demilitarized border zone. Both sides were to adhere to an immediate ceasefire, withdraw artillery, grant the republics a higher level of independence, and ensure all foreign mercenaries leave the country. But the Minsk Agreements did absolutely nothing. Ukraine said they didn't feel safe removing their armies while foreign mercenaries remained, and the republics said the mercenaries wouldn't leave until they had their autonomy. Everything was back to where it started, and the fighting resumed soon after.\n\n## The 242-Day Siege of Donetsk Airport and the 'Cyborgs'\n\nOne of the first major battles to erupt during the so-called ceasefire was at the Donetsk Airport. The airport lay just on the edge of the border drawn up by the Minsk Agreements and was the only part of Donetsk still under Ukrainian control. On September 28th, the separatists started a renewed offensive to take back the airport, beginning with a huge artillery and rocket bombardment using several BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher systems. The Ukrainian forces responded with mortar fire, and the shelling continued to shake the airport for days. Amid the artillery exchange, a bus stop in Donetsk was hit with a rogue bomb, killing 10 civilians. An investigation concluded that it was impossible to tell who was responsible, as both sides were shooting in every direction. DPR forces moved closer and closer until the remaining Ukrainian soldiers were forced into a siege inside the main terminals. Russian-supplied tanks were arriving, and while two were soon destroyed, many more turned their guns onto the main buildings. The separatists made repeated attempts to push into the airport, but each time they were repelled. After an entire month of siege, the Ukrainian forces announced that the DPR had accessed the tunnel system into the basements, opening yet another point of attack. By late October, the airport was almost unrecognizable. Everything was blackened from the unending explosions, the runway was ripped up and covered in destroyed vehicles, and according to the Los Angeles Times, \"every pane of glass has shattered; every door, wall and ceiling has been pierced with bullets and shrapnel.\" But the main terminal and the control tower still remained under Ukrainian control. An intercepted radio communication of the DPR revealed their frustration with the seemingly impossible siege, and one of them famously said that there were \"some kind of cyborgs sitting in there.\" The Ukrainian media picked this up and soon everyone was referring to the airport defenders as cyborgs, somehow able to fend off the attacks day after day while wounded and running on minimal sleep. By this point, Putin had announced that he would be sending \"humanitarian convoys\" into Ukraine — columns of trucks loaded with more weapons and ammunition. Russia affirmed that it was merely helping an oppressed population of Russian speakers defend themselves from a government genocide, a justification that doesn't hold up to scrutiny when nearly a third of Ukraine considers Russian their native tongue, and nearly everyone speaks it as a second language. Even Ukraine's current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, grew up speaking Russian in his home. The siege lasted until January 2015, when after a massive firefight, the separatists entered the main terminal and set off timed explosives, destroying floors and slowly removing any cover. Eventually, Ukrainian forces retreated after the main tower was destroyed. Exact casualty numbers aren't known, but it is estimated that hundreds were killed on both sides, over two thousand were injured, and dozens of tanks were destroyed.\n\n## Minsk 2, Stalemate, and the Human Cost of Eight Years of War\n\nBy February 2015, the fighting raged on in several cities, and it was clear that the Minsk Agreements hadn't done anything to solve the problem. A new ceasefire was written up, nicknamed Minsk 2, but it suffered from a lot of the faults of the first treaty and didn't have much of an impact on the battlefield. The number of Russian citizens joining the fight continued to increase throughout 2015. The Russian government still denied that their military was directly involved, but recruitment for volunteers was done openly in public. Russian soldiers, police officers, and firefighters were encouraged to join up, and depending on relevant experience, a volunteer fighter in Donbas could earn 60,000 to 240,000 rubles per month, or between 1 and 4 thousand dollars at the time. The UK estimated that by mid-2015, 42,000 regular Russian combat troops had fought in Ukraine. By 2016, the frontline had essentially reached a stalemate. Fighting continued sporadically every few weeks for the next several years, with flare-ups in artillery and the occasional sniper engagement. By 2021, the numbers of soldiers killed were estimated to be 4,600 Ukrainians, 5,800 separatists, and 500 Russians. On the civilian side, the deaths in the conflict zone numbered about 3,400, not including Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. In addition to the casualties, eastern Ukraine had become one of the most heavily mined areas on earth, and 172 children were injured or killed due to accidental explosions in the eight years after the war began. The situation in the conflict zone was also as politically messy as ever — in the parts of Donbas controlled by Ukraine, a vast majority wanted the republics to remain a part of the country, but in the separatist-controlled regions, as much as 50% wanted complete independence. One of the most devastating aspects of the war was the damage it did to the cities involved. Separatists repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of targeting residential areas, and Ukraine in return accused the separatists of firing their artillery from such places, making collateral damage inevitable. There were so many buildings destroyed that by 2022, even before the full invasion began, there were already nearly 2 million Ukrainians that had been internally displaced due to the conflict, many of whom were forced to flee their homes for a second time. For the eight years that the fighting continued, the world watched and hoped that the combat would simply fizzle out. Something similar had happened in both Georgia and Moldova, with pro-Russian breakaway republics fighting their government, and in both of those cases the fighting had all but ended after a few years. Unfortunately, in Ukraine's case, the separatist movements were only the first act, and Putin was planning something much bigger.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What was the Budapest Memorandum and why does it matter?\n\nIn 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up the 1,700 Soviet nuclear warheads it had inherited, signing the Budapest Memorandum with Russia, Britain, and the United States. All four countries pledged to recognize and protect Ukraine's sovereignty. Russia's later annexation of Crimea directly violated that commitment, raising the question of what security guarantees mean in practice.\n\n### How did Russia seize Crimea in 2014?\n\nIn late February 2014, Russian special forces in unmarked green uniforms — quickly nicknamed \"the little green men\" — moved into Crimea, captured key checkpoints, cut off roads to mainland Ukraine, and replaced local TV channels with Russian media. Russian armored vehicles and helicopters arrived before Ukraine could organize a response, and within about a month all Ukrainian forces had surrendered or been captured. Not a single shot was fired in the takeover.\n\n### Who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17?\n\nMH17 was struck by a Buk surface-to-air missile on July 17, 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. A Dutch-led investigation found that the missile system belonged to the 53rd Anti-air Brigade of the Russian Federation; it had been delivered to the battle area that same day and returned to Russia after firing. The Russian government denied involvement and vetoed an international tribunal at the UN Security Council.\n\n### What happened at the Siege of Ilovaisk?\n\nIn August 2014, Ukrainian forces took what they reported as control of the city of Ilovaisk, but the city was then completely encircled by a combined force of separatists and regular Russian troops. A Ukrainian rescue attempt failed, an artillery barrage leveled buildings one by one, and Ukraine suffered roughly 1,000 casualties before the siege ended. The defeat is considered the main reason Ukraine pressed for the Minsk ceasefire agreement signed on September 5, 2014.\n\n### Why did the Minsk Agreements fail?\n\nThe Minsk Agreements, signed in September 2014 and updated in February 2015, called for an immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons, and the departure of foreign mercenaries. Ukraine refused to pull back its forces while foreign fighters remained, and the separatist republics refused to expel mercenaries until they received their promised autonomy. The fighting resumed almost immediately, and the frontline settled into a years-long stalemate with periodic artillery exchanges before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.\n\n## Related Coverage\n- [This Is Ukraine’s Moment of Truth.](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/this-is-ukraines-moment-of-truth)\n- [This Is Ukraine’s Moment of Truth.](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/this-is-ukraines-moment-of-truth-1bmuupct)\n- [Is the 21st Century's Deadliest War about to Restart? And More.](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/is-the-21st-centurys-deadliest-war-about-to-restart-and-more)\n- [Russia’s Death Toll Tops 100,000 as Ukraine War’s Human Cost Deepens](https://warfronts-prod.fulcrum-labs.workers.dev/conflicts/russias-death-toll-tops-100k-ukraine-war-human-cost)\n- [When the Red Button Falls: The Unraveling After a Global Nuclear War](https://warfronts-prod.fulcrum-labs.workers.dev/conflicts/when-red-button-falls-unraveling-global-nuclear-war)\n\n" url: https://warfronts.pub/article/2014-ukraine-crisis-real-beginning-war-russia.md canonical: https://warfronts.pub/article/2014-ukraine-crisis-real-beginning-war-russia datePublished: 2026-03-04 dateModified: 2026-03-04 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://warfronts.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: Warfronts image: "https://media.warfronts.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=1600,height=900,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/C9R8BYCTAgQ/hero.jpg" type: NewsArticle contentHash: 79cfc6024d63fd1bfcac9fa3b68ffe37db4ba6490909ffa1d6f28a2ae88272ab tokens: 6972 summaryUrl: https://warfronts.pub/article/2014-ukraine-crisis-real-beginning-war-russia.md.summary.md --- In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" with the broad goals of liberating two separatist republics, demilitarizing, and "denazifying" the country of Ukraine. Since the moment Russian forces crossed the border, social media has been covered with footage from the country, protests have been carried out across Europe and North America, and news outlets continue to provide live updates as events unfold day by day. But 2022 is not the year that Russia's military intervention in Ukraine began. The invasion is an escalation of fighting that began eight years earlier — in 2014 — a revolution, large-scale separatist battles, and even a downed passenger jet that were all part of Russia's "undeclared war." ## Key Takeaways - Ukraine gave up 1,700 inherited Soviet nuclear warheads under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, receiving sovereignty guarantees from Russia, Britain, and the United States in return. - Russian special forces — the 'little green men' — seized Crimea in late February 2014 without firing a shot, taking the entire peninsula before Ukraine could mount a meaningful response. - Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 on board; a Dutch investigation traced the Buk missile to the 53rd Anti-air Brigade of the Russian Federation. - The defeat at Ilovaisk cost Ukraine around 1,000 casualties and directly drove the signing of the Minsk Agreements on September 5, 2014, which failed almost immediately. - By 2021, the eight-year conflict had killed an estimated 4,600 Ukrainians, 5,800 separatists, and 500 Russians, and left nearly 2 million Ukrainians internally displaced. ## Soviet Collapse, Nuclear Disarmament, and the Budapest Memorandum In December 1991, the world's jaw dropped when the Soviet Union officially dissolved after 70 years of dominance. The famous red flag with the sickle and hammer was lowered for the final time over the Kremlin, replaced by the flag of the Russian Federation. With this collapse, 15 countries gained their independence, suddenly able to govern themselves for the first time in generations, but there were a lot of problems to iron out first. Ukraine had been the second most powerful Soviet Republic, with large industrial complexes and military installations, and when the USSR fell apart, Ukraine was left with a lot of Soviet weaponry lying around. Most notably, they inherited a staggering 1,700 nuclear warheads, over a hundred of which were capable of being launched on intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to dismantle its nuclear arsenal and join the NPT, a treaty that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. In agreement with the treaty, Ukraine pledged to never construct new nuclear bombs, and to only use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. In tandem with the nuclear treaty, Ukraine also signed the Budapest Memorandum. The Budapest Memorandum was a security assurance signed by Ukraine, Russia, Britain, and the United States. It was an agreement by all four countries to recognize and protect the sovereignty of Ukraine, giving the country the protection it needed to safely give up its newly acquired weapons of mass destruction. Giving Ukraine security in exchange for destroying its nukes was in everyone's best interest at the time. The United States and Britain were concerned about potential misuse of the weapons, Russia feared that they could be the target of such weapons, and Ukraine didn't have the budget to properly maintain them, so these agreements benefited every party involved — at the time. ## The 2004 Orange Revolution and the Poisoning of Yushchenko Ukraine, like many other ex-USSR states, was still rife with political corruption, and the 2004 presidential election would prove to be no different. After the first round, the election was narrowed down to two candidates: Viktor Yanukovych, who wanted to strengthen ties with Russia, and Viktor Yushchenko, who wanted to strengthen ties with the West. In the months leading up to the polls, Yushchenko was mysteriously poisoned with TCDD dioxin, an herbicide that is also found in the infamous Agent Orange that the US used in Vietnam. Yushchenko survived the assassination attempt, but his health had been seriously impacted and his face even remains disfigured to this day. After the second round of votes were counted in November, it was announced that Viktor Yanukovych had won, but it was a suspicious victory. The number of votes between the two rounds had drastic changes in certain districts, such as a double or triple increase in votes; there were widespread reports of intimidation at the polls by local authorities, threatening to take away government pensions if voters didn't choose Yanukovych, and there were reports of widespread corruption among the vote counters. Vladimir Putin had even congratulated Yanukovych before his victory was declared. The European Union stated that they would not recognize the election as legitimate due to the suspected fraud, while Russia said that they supported Ukraine's new president. Once word of the fraud got out to the public, it sparked mass outrage, and thousands of Ukrainian citizens took to the streets in huge protests, a period that later became known as the Orange Revolution. The largest of these protests, which took place in Kyiv's Independence Square, boasted more than 500,000 total participants over the weeks. In total, it is estimated that 19% of Ukraine's entire population had a part in the Orange Revolution. After a month of public outcry, Ukraine's parliament nullified the second round results and announced an election re-run. This time around, the world was watching carefully, and once the votes were counted, the original decision was overturned. Yushchenko, still recovering from his poisoning, was declared the new winner with 52% of the vote. Yanukovych, with only 44%, officially conceded defeat. The Orange Revolution, despite its historic size, had remained entirely peaceful, with no protestors and no police officers being injured or killed throughout the entire month of protests. ## Euromaidan, the Revolution of Dignity, and Yanukovych's Flight The defeated candidate Yanukovych tried his luck again in the 2010 elections, and this time he won, fair and square. In Ukraine's eternal tug of war between Russia and the West, this victory was seen as a big step in Russia's direction, as Yanukovych pledged to create closer ties with Putin. But this didn't exactly represent the desire of the population. Just a few years into his presidency, Yanukovych suddenly decided not to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, a plan that would slowly bring Ukraine's economy, legal, and social systems closer to the European Union, and hopefully pave the way for Ukraine's eventual membership. Despite parliament voting overwhelmingly in support of the agreement, he cancelled the signing at the last minute and announced that instead he intended to join the Customs Union of Russia, a similar agreement but with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Much of the public were once again outraged and took to the streets. After the Orange Revolution, the people knew that they had the power to force change in their government and were determined to do so again. Thousands of people once again filled Kyiv's Independence Square, setting up roadblocks, kitchens, first aid camps, and they settled in for the long haul. On November 30, 2013, the demonstration, which up to this point had been fairly peaceful, escalated into a violent riot. Police began using water cannons and firing rubber bullets into the crowds, and the people started fighting back and setting fires. By mid-January 2014, there were several deaths during each protest. Shockingly, among the dead, some bullet wounds were identified as rounds fired from a Dragunov sniper rifle. These incidents were isolated but soon became commonplace when Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko announced that he had authorized the use of live rounds on protestors. In a week known as the Revolution of Dignity, as many as 50,000 protestors gathered and marched toward parliament. They were confronted by the Berkut Special Police, and violence erupted like never before. Protestors fought with bats and threw Molotov cocktails, and police fired on them with snipers and automatic weapons. Shielded phalanxes were overrun by the crowds, and protestors even set off makeshift bombs. By February 22nd, the protestors had taken control of most of the city, and President Yanukovych had fled the capital. At the end of the revolution, 108 protestors were dead, 1,900 were injured, and 300 were missing. Parliament voted 328-0 to impeach him. Yanukovych soon resurfaced in Russia, claiming that he was overthrown in a manner resembling the rise of the Nazi Party. He asserted that he was still the acting president, and several prominent figures from eastern Ukraine voiced their support for both him and Russia. ## The Annexation of Crimea and the Little Green Men Soon after, supporters of Yanukovych stormed administrative centers of the eastern cities Donetsk and Luhansk, raising Russian flags over them. Up to this point, Putin hadn't directly intervened — he had only voiced his political support for Yanukovych. However, that changed in late February 2014, when Putin held a meeting with his advisors, saying at the end, "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia." Taking advantage of the chaos in Ukraine, Russian special forces moved quietly into Crimea. These soldiers weren't wearing any identifying markers, only a green uniform, later earning them the nickname "zeleni cholovichky" or "the little green men." Amid both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protests taking place across Crimea, the little green men captured key checkpoints in the region, cut off roads to mainland Ukraine, and raised the Russian flag over parliament. Within hours, Crimea was completely isolated from Ukraine, and even its TV channels were severed and replaced with Russian media. Soon, Putin received authorization for the full use of the military. Helicopters and armored vehicles quickly arrived, and any remaining Ukrainian troops were instantly besieged and hopelessly outnumbered. After a month, all Ukrainian forces had surrendered or been captured, and Crimea was completely under Russian control. There wasn't even any shooting — Russia stormed in so quickly that they took the entire peninsula before Ukraine had much of a chance to respond. With Crimea out of the way, Putin turned his eyes to his next goal — the growing unrest in eastern Ukraine. ## Separatist War in Donbas: The DPR, the LPR, and the Battle for Sloviansk To understand how the movement in eastern Ukraine evolved into a separatist war, it is crucial to understand the political divide. The country has long been politically divided between those who wanted to move closer to the West and those who wanted to be closer to Russia. In general, those who live in western Ukraine are more in favor of the EU and NATO, while those in the far east were more in favor of closer ties with Russia. In addition to geography, age also plays a big role — younger Ukrainians are far more likely to support ties with Europe. However, these were merely political preferences; Ukraine was still united in the idea that it should remain an independent, sovereign nation, apart from a select few groups. Soon, there were two major groups claiming the right to leave Ukraine and join Russia: the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic, or the DPR and the LPR. These groups had the collective aim of liberating the Donbas, the eastern portion of Ukraine that borders Russia. Putin publicly voiced his support for these republics, referred to their combined region as Novorossiya, or New Russia, and began supplying them with automatic weapons and explosives. On April 12, 2014, the separatists made their first moves and once again captured administrative buildings in dozens of cities and towns in eastern Ukraine. They raided police armories and were in possession of hundreds of guns, handing them out to anyone willing to fight. In response, the Ukrainian government organized the Anti-Terrorist Operation, or ATO, and dispatched police and military to recapture the cities, the first of which was Sloviansk. The separatists in Sloviansk were given an ultimatum — retreat from the city within 48 hours, or be attacked. When they refused to budge, Ukrainian forces began encircling the city. The DPR threatened to "turn Sloviansk into Stalingrad" if Ukrainian troops entered the city. On May 2nd, a Ukrainian force of 15,000 men launched an all-out offensive to retake the city, with reports of gunfire, mortar, and even attack helicopters over Sloviansk. But the rebels were a lot more heavily armed than previously thought — they suddenly retaliated with several armored vehicles and shot down multiple helicopters with Russian-supplied anti-air rockets. After several weeks of fighting, the separatists were overwhelmed and fled the city, retreating to Donetsk. Around 50 separatists had been killed at Sloviansk, and the Ukrainian military had around 90 casualties. ## Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and the Battle for Shakhtarsk Raion After Sloviansk, the Ukrainian military went on to defeat separatists in several skirmishes. They kicked the rebels out of Kramatorsk, recaptured the Donetsk International Airport, and regained complete control of the southern city Mariupol. But the rebels still held huge swaths of territory and several cities, and the numbers of separatists continued to grow every day. It was also becoming obvious that not all of the rebels were even Ukrainian. Captured separatists were often found to be Russian, Serbian, Chechen, or even South Ossetian. This was no longer just an insurgency, but now a battle with foreign mercenaries. Ukraine decided that to effectively quell the rebellion, they needed to cut off the supply lines being delivered from Russia through the Shakhtarsk Raion. The battle for the supply routes began in the summer of 2014, spread over a huge area, with the most intense fighting focused on a strategically important hill overlooking the region. Ukrainian jets were involved in bombing runs, several of which were shot down by rebel anti-air rockets. The rebels were the most equipped yet and had several tanks on the scene. Then, on July 17th, tragedy struck. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 departed from Amsterdam heading for Kuala Lumpur. While flying over eastern Ukraine, the passenger jet was struck with a missile, destroying the plane and killing all 298 on board. A Dutch investigation team found that the rocket had been fired from a Buk surface-to-air missile system belonging to the 53rd Anti-air Brigade of the Russian Federation. The system had been delivered to the battle that same day and returned to Russia after firing. This was the only type of missile in the region with the capabilities to reach the altitude that a passenger jet flies at, and with the vehicle operating on its own it would have had trouble distinguishing friend from foe. The Russian government denied any involvement and vetoed an international tribunal at the UN Security Council. The battle for Shakhtarsk Raion raged on, and just when it seemed that the Ukrainian army had the upper hand, the separatists launched a counter-offensive, taking back any lost land, capturing the strategic hill, and pushing forward. In the coming weeks, Ukraine slowly retreated, fighting through the woods until being forced to fall back and admit defeat. ## The Siege of Ilovaisk and the Push Toward Minsk By mid-August, through a series of victories and defeats, the Ukrainian government had made immense progress in taking back territory from the insurgents. They were even making plans to retake their border checkpoints, which were some of the most heavily fortified separatist positions. Faced with the likelihood of a complete Ukrainian victory, the leader of the DPR, Igor Girkin, personally addressed Vladimir Putin and asked for stronger support, saying: "Losing this war on the territory that President Vladimir Putin personally named New Russia would threaten the Kremlin's power and, personally, the power of the president." Soon there were much higher numbers of standard Russian troops and vehicles being spotted inside Ukraine's borders. Russia still denied this, even when faced with direct evidence. At one point, a group of Russian paratroopers was captured, and when the Ukrainian government released photos of them and their documents, Russia stated that the men had crossed the border "by accident." On August 7th, Ukrainian soldiers began their assault on the city of Ilovaisk. After a couple weeks, they reported complete control, but this was disputed by the DPR, and shootouts in the streets were happening every hour of every day. Urban warfare continued for three whole weeks until Ilovaisk was completely encircled by a massive number of both separatist and Russian forces. After a Ukrainian attempt to rescue the trapped troops ended in failure, the siege turned into a textbook artillery barrage, and hundreds of Ukrainian casualties mounted up as buildings were levelled one after another. By the end, the Ukrainian forces were almost entirely wiped out. Ukraine had suffered around 1,000 casualties, while the rebels and Russians had around 850. The defense minister soon resigned due to his failure to coordinate a proper response during the siege. The defeat at Ilovaisk is regarded as one of the big motivations for Ukraine to push even harder for peaceful negotiations, and eventually this led to the signing of the Minsk Agreements on September 5th. Signed by representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and both separatist republics, the agreements drew a line between the two forces, creating a 15-kilometer-wide demilitarized border zone. Both sides were to adhere to an immediate ceasefire, withdraw artillery, grant the republics a higher level of independence, and ensure all foreign mercenaries leave the country. But the Minsk Agreements did absolutely nothing. Ukraine said they didn't feel safe removing their armies while foreign mercenaries remained, and the republics said the mercenaries wouldn't leave until they had their autonomy. Everything was back to where it started, and the fighting resumed soon after. ## The 242-Day Siege of Donetsk Airport and the 'Cyborgs' One of the first major battles to erupt during the so-called ceasefire was at the Donetsk Airport. The airport lay just on the edge of the border drawn up by the Minsk Agreements and was the only part of Donetsk still under Ukrainian control. On September 28th, the separatists started a renewed offensive to take back the airport, beginning with a huge artillery and rocket bombardment using several BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher systems. The Ukrainian forces responded with mortar fire, and the shelling continued to shake the airport for days. Amid the artillery exchange, a bus stop in Donetsk was hit with a rogue bomb, killing 10 civilians. An investigation concluded that it was impossible to tell who was responsible, as both sides were shooting in every direction. DPR forces moved closer and closer until the remaining Ukrainian soldiers were forced into a siege inside the main terminals. Russian-supplied tanks were arriving, and while two were soon destroyed, many more turned their guns onto the main buildings. The separatists made repeated attempts to push into the airport, but each time they were repelled. After an entire month of siege, the Ukrainian forces announced that the DPR had accessed the tunnel system into the basements, opening yet another point of attack. By late October, the airport was almost unrecognizable. Everything was blackened from the unending explosions, the runway was ripped up and covered in destroyed vehicles, and according to the Los Angeles Times, "every pane of glass has shattered; every door, wall and ceiling has been pierced with bullets and shrapnel." But the main terminal and the control tower still remained under Ukrainian control. An intercepted radio communication of the DPR revealed their frustration with the seemingly impossible siege, and one of them famously said that there were "some kind of cyborgs sitting in there." The Ukrainian media picked this up and soon everyone was referring to the airport defenders as cyborgs, somehow able to fend off the attacks day after day while wounded and running on minimal sleep. By this point, Putin had announced that he would be sending "humanitarian convoys" into Ukraine — columns of trucks loaded with more weapons and ammunition. Russia affirmed that it was merely helping an oppressed population of Russian speakers defend themselves from a government genocide, a justification that doesn't hold up to scrutiny when nearly a third of Ukraine considers Russian their native tongue, and nearly everyone speaks it as a second language. Even Ukraine's current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, grew up speaking Russian in his home. The siege lasted until January 2015, when after a massive firefight, the separatists entered the main terminal and set off timed explosives, destroying floors and slowly removing any cover. Eventually, Ukrainian forces retreated after the main tower was destroyed. Exact casualty numbers aren't known, but it is estimated that hundreds were killed on both sides, over two thousand were injured, and dozens of tanks were destroyed. ## Minsk 2, Stalemate, and the Human Cost of Eight Years of War By February 2015, the fighting raged on in several cities, and it was clear that the Minsk Agreements hadn't done anything to solve the problem. A new ceasefire was written up, nicknamed Minsk 2, but it suffered from a lot of the faults of the first treaty and didn't have much of an impact on the battlefield. The number of Russian citizens joining the fight continued to increase throughout 2015. The Russian government still denied that their military was directly involved, but recruitment for volunteers was done openly in public. Russian soldiers, police officers, and firefighters were encouraged to join up, and depending on relevant experience, a volunteer fighter in Donbas could earn 60,000 to 240,000 rubles per month, or between 1 and 4 thousand dollars at the time. The UK estimated that by mid-2015, 42,000 regular Russian combat troops had fought in Ukraine. By 2016, the frontline had essentially reached a stalemate. Fighting continued sporadically every few weeks for the next several years, with flare-ups in artillery and the occasional sniper engagement. By 2021, the numbers of soldiers killed were estimated to be 4,600 Ukrainians, 5,800 separatists, and 500 Russians. On the civilian side, the deaths in the conflict zone numbered about 3,400, not including Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. In addition to the casualties, eastern Ukraine had become one of the most heavily mined areas on earth, and 172 children were injured or killed due to accidental explosions in the eight years after the war began. The situation in the conflict zone was also as politically messy as ever — in the parts of Donbas controlled by Ukraine, a vast majority wanted the republics to remain a part of the country, but in the separatist-controlled regions, as much as 50% wanted complete independence. One of the most devastating aspects of the war was the damage it did to the cities involved. Separatists repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of targeting residential areas, and Ukraine in return accused the separatists of firing their artillery from such places, making collateral damage inevitable. There were so many buildings destroyed that by 2022, even before the full invasion began, there were already nearly 2 million Ukrainians that had been internally displaced due to the conflict, many of whom were forced to flee their homes for a second time. For the eight years that the fighting continued, the world watched and hoped that the combat would simply fizzle out. Something similar had happened in both Georgia and Moldova, with pro-Russian breakaway republics fighting their government, and in both of those cases the fighting had all but ended after a few years. Unfortunately, in Ukraine's case, the separatist movements were only the first act, and Putin was planning something much bigger. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What was the Budapest Memorandum and why does it matter? In 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up the 1,700 Soviet nuclear warheads it had inherited, signing the Budapest Memorandum with Russia, Britain, and the United States. All four countries pledged to recognize and protect Ukraine's sovereignty. Russia's later annexation of Crimea directly violated that commitment, raising the question of what security guarantees mean in practice. ### How did Russia seize Crimea in 2014? In late February 2014, Russian special forces in unmarked green uniforms — quickly nicknamed "the little green men" — moved into Crimea, captured key checkpoints, cut off roads to mainland Ukraine, and replaced local TV channels with Russian media. Russian armored vehicles and helicopters arrived before Ukraine could organize a response, and within about a month all Ukrainian forces had surrendered or been captured. Not a single shot was fired in the takeover. ### Who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17? MH17 was struck by a Buk surface-to-air missile on July 17, 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. A Dutch-led investigation found that the missile system belonged to the 53rd Anti-air Brigade of the Russian Federation; it had been delivered to the battle area that same day and returned to Russia after firing. The Russian government denied involvement and vetoed an international tribunal at the UN Security Council. ### What happened at the Siege of Ilovaisk? In August 2014, Ukrainian forces took what they reported as control of the city of Ilovaisk, but the city was then completely encircled by a combined force of separatists and regular Russian troops. A Ukrainian rescue attempt failed, an artillery barrage leveled buildings one by one, and Ukraine suffered roughly 1,000 casualties before the siege ended. The defeat is considered the main reason Ukraine pressed for the Minsk ceasefire agreement signed on September 5, 2014. ### Why did the Minsk Agreements fail? The Minsk Agreements, signed in September 2014 and updated in February 2015, called for an immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons, and the departure of foreign mercenaries. Ukraine refused to pull back its forces while foreign fighters remained, and the separatist republics refused to expel mercenaries until they received their promised autonomy. The fighting resumed almost immediately, and the frontline settled into a years-long stalemate with periodic artillery exchanges before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. ## Related Coverage - [This Is Ukraine’s Moment of Truth.](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/this-is-ukraines-moment-of-truth) - [This Is Ukraine’s Moment of Truth.](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/this-is-ukraines-moment-of-truth-1bmuupct) - [Is the 21st Century's Deadliest War about to Restart? And More.](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/is-the-21st-centurys-deadliest-war-about-to-restart-and-more) - [Russia’s Death Toll Tops 100,000 as Ukraine War’s Human Cost Deepens](https://warfronts-prod.fulcrum-labs.workers.dev/conflicts/russias-death-toll-tops-100k-ukraine-war-human-cost) - [When the Red Button Falls: The Unraveling After a Global Nuclear War](https://warfronts-prod.fulcrum-labs.workers.dev/conflicts/when-red-button-falls-unraveling-global-nuclear-war) <!-- youtube:C9R8BYCTAgQ -->