What is happening in Ukraine? What is the story of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine? + Military map of Ukraine

In the early hours of February 24, Russian President, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had officially launched a special operation to bring peace to Ukraine! According to the Russian president, which was broadcast on official Russian television; The operation was aimed at protecting residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as demilitarizing Ukraine and denazification of the country.

Putin emphasized that the goal of the operation is “is to protect people who have been subjected to abuse, genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years, and for this we will seek to demilitarize and deNazify Ukraine, as well as bring to justice those who committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful residents, including citizens of the Russian Federation,” Putin said.

Following this statement, the Russian military operation in Ukraine began from the early hours of February 24.

But what is the root cause of this war?

Two days ago, on February 22, following weeks of escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine, Russian President, Vladimir Putin finally recognized the independence of the two separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in southeastern Ukraine, And for the last time demanded Kiev to halt military operations in the Donbas region and hand over all the subdivisions of Donetsk and Luhansk to the people of this region.

Donbass is a historical, economic and cultural region in southeastern Ukraine that was separated from the Soviet Union during the Soviet dissolution with Ukraine. Russia considers the Donbas region, where many Russians live, to be part of its traditional territory.

In the riots of 2014, pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown and pro-European politicians came to power in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. After this revolution (or coup), the people of the Crimean peninsula showed their desire to secede from Ukraine, and eventually, after a series of events, it led to the secession of Crimea and its annexation to Russia. The people of Luhansk and Donetsk subsequently demanded secession from Ukraine and accession to Russia. Thus, on May 11, 2014, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts witnessed a referendum on independence from Ukraine. In Donetsk, more than 89 percent of voters and in Luhansk more than 96 percent of voters voted for autonomy and independence.

But this time, the Ukrainian government, experiencing Crimean secession, cracked down on separatists with swift action and military operations. However, the Ukrainian military operation in the Donbas region did not completely suppress separatism; But it interrupted the process. In the same year, a ceasefire agreement called the “Minsk Agreement” was signed between Ukraine and Russia and the Donetsk and Luhansk separatists. Since then (until 2022) the Donbas region has witnessed daily clashes between the two sides and killing and displacement of the people of the region. Before the war in Donbas, Donbas was the most populated region of Ukraine after Kiev, the capital of the country.

However, over the past eight years, the areas under the control of separatist forces in Donetsk and Luhansk in southeastern Ukraine have become an unresolved challenge between Russia and Ukraine and the site of political conflicts between Russia and the West. The Minsk 1 and 2 agreements also failed to bring about a lasting ceasefire, with each side accusing the other of not adhering to the terms of the agreement.

Over the years, the Ukrainian government, hoping for financial and military assistance from the West and the United States, tried to reclaim its territories; An issue that never materialized, and on the contrary, with increasing US influence in Ukraine, ‌practically turned the country into a place for direct military threats by NATO and the United States against Russia. Recently, the rumors about Ukraine joining NATO and the deployment of NATO defense and missile systems as well as NATO bases in this country led the Russian Federation to conclude that the only way out of this problem is the demilitarization of Ukraine!

And therefore, the Russian military operations began to capture its traditional territories in Donbas and perhaps all of Ukraine!