The Russo Ukrainian War started in February 2014.  Russians started to invade the region of Crimea where they eventually annexed the region a month later. The 8 years to follow increased the tensions between Ukraine and Russia with cyber warfare, political tensions and built up presence near the border with troops and tanks. Now in 2022-2023 we have seen a full blown invasion into Ukraine from the Russians and there doesn’t seem to be an end. Here are some recent facts and news from Ukraine about what is happening within the last couple of months.

Currently Russia has only annexed the Crimea region with Russia having control of 4 other regions which are Kherson, Zapoizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk which are all along the Russians western border. According to CNN, Russia has been destroying lots of Ukraine’s infrastructure to get rid of any electricity, water, and food. They target certain regions to force Ukrainians to move out of the way for Russians to take control.  In the past few months, according to CNN “Russian forces launched a renewed attack on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure overnight, firing at least 36 missiles which killed at least one person, but Ukraine’s Energy Ministry says that electricity supplies are unaffected.” Recently the City of Kharkiv has finally been able to restore power to electricity and infrastructure  to “100%” after a missile barrage earlier in the year. The battle still continues around various cities in eastern Ukraine. In the city of Bakhmut BBC says, “Ukrainian forces are trying to hold out against the Russian Troops and Wagner group of mercenaries fighting for the Russians.” The Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin reports “Their forces captured all of the eastern part of the city. If Bakmut is captured Russia would be in a position to threaten other neighboring cities like Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. In Ukraine “Western officials estimate between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or injured so far in and around Bakhmut.” “In the south of the country artillery attacks still continue around Kherson” BBC says.  Also “Ukrainians are believed to have destroyed a ammunition depot to the west of Kherson” BBC says. The front lines of the city will not change for a while because of Russia’s strong defensive positions. 

The current map of Ukraine shows that Russia is still in control of most of the territory that it gained since the invasion started in February. However, in the past few months we have seen that Ukraine has been steadily gaining back lost territory in the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine.  The invasion of Ukraine for the most part has been a disaster. According to Ms. Smith “Sanctions have hurt the Russian economy and Europe/the United States have all supported Ukraine in a number of ways. The resolve of the Ukrainian people was severely underestimated by President Putin. At this point no matter how the war ends, Russia is going to be in a diminished position.”