(For another, semi up-to-date, interactive map, see here)Map showing Russia in dark red with Russian-occupied territories in Europe in light red, as follows:
The Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the ongoing invasion. In Ukrainian law, they are defined as the "temporarily occupied territories". As of 2024, Russia occupies almost 20% of Ukraine and about 3 to 3.5 million Ukrainians are estimated to be living under occupation;[1][2] since the invasion, the occupied territories lost roughly half of their population. The United Nations Human Rights Office reports that Russia is committing severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine, including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, crackdown on peaceful protest and freedom of speech, enforced Russification, passportization, indoctrination of children, and suppression of Ukrainian language and culture.[3]
As of 2024, Ukraine's peace terms call for Russian forces to leave the occupied territories. Russia's terms call for it to keep all the land it occupies, and be given all of the provinces that it claims but does not fully control.[10] Several Western-based analysts say that allowing Russia to keep the land it seized would "reward the aggressor while punishing the victim" and encourage further Russian expansionism.[11][12]
Law of Ukraine No. 1207-VII (15 April 2014) "Assurance of Citizens' Rights and Freedom, and Legal Regulations on Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine".[20]
Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1085-р (7 November 2014) "A List of Settlements on Territory Temporarily Uncontrolled by Government Authorities, and a List of Landmarks Located at the Contact Line".[21]
Law of Ukraine No. 254-19-VIII (17 March 2015) "On Recognition of Separate Raions, Cities, Towns and Villages in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions as Temporarily Occupied Territories".[22]
Petro Poroshenko, one of the opposition leaders during Euromaidan, won a landslide victory in the election to succeed interim president Turchynov, three months after the ousting of Yanukovych.[23]
Timeline
The following chart summarizes some estimates of the total area of Ukrainian territory under Russian control, presented by various publishers at different instances during the conflict. Note that some of the estimates from the end of 2022 were conflicting.
Amount of Ukrainian territory under Russian control during the conflict
The uncontrolled portions of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts are commonly abbreviated as "ORDLO" from Ukrainian, especially among Ukrainian news media. ("certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts", Ukrainian: Окремі райони Донецької та Луганської областей, romanized:Okremi raiony Donetskoi ta Luhanskoi oblastei)[35] The term first appeared in Law of Ukraine No.1680-VII (October 2014).[36] Documents of the Minsk Protocol and the OSCE refer to them as "certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions" (CADLR) of Ukraine.[37]
The Ukrainian army was concerned in 2019 about the deployment of 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missiles on Russian naval and coast guard vessels operating in the Sea of Azov, which is adjacent to the temporarily occupied territories. As a result, Mariupol and Berdiansk, two main Pryazovian seaports, suffer from an increase in insecurity[41] (both cities were captured in 2022).
Since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, the Government of Ukraine is issuing (as extension to government order no. 1085-р and law no. 254-VIII) up-to-date "List of Temporarily Occupied Regions and Settlements" and a "List of Landmarks Bordering the Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone".[43] As of 16 September 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has made four updates to order no. 1085-р and law no. 254-VIII:
Regions of Ukraine annexed by Russia, with a red line marking the area of actual control by Russia on 30 September 20222024 United Nations map of Russian-occupied Ukraine in December 2023
After Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Russian military and Russian proxy forces further occupied additional Ukrainian territory. By early April, Russian forces withdrew from Northern Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv,[53] after stagnating progress amid fierce Ukrainian resistance in order to focus on consolidating control over Eastern and Southern Ukraine. On June 2, 2022, Zelenskyy announced that Russia occupied approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory.[27]
Before 2022, Russia occupied 42,000km2 (16,000sqmi) of Ukrainian territory (Crimea, and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk), and occupied a further 119,000km2 (46,000sqmi) after its full-scale invasion by March 2022, a total of 161,000km2 (62,000sqmi) or almost 27% of Ukraine.[26] By 11 November 2022, the Institute for the Study of War calculated that Ukrainian forces had liberated an area of 74,443km2 (28,743sqmi) from Russian occupation,[54] leaving Russia with control of about 18% of Ukraine.[55] During the whole of 2023, Russian forces only captured 518km2 (200sqmi) of Ukrainian territory, despite huge losses on the battlefield.[31]
As of 2024, Ukraine's peace terms include Russia withdrawing its troops from the occupied territories. Russia's terms include Russia keeping all the land it occupies, and being given all of the provinces that it claims but does not fully control.[10]
Several Western-based analysts say that allowing Russia to keep the land it seized would "reward the aggressor while punishing the victim" and set a dangerous precedent.[11] They predict that this would encourage Russia "to continue its imperialist campaign of expansionism" against Ukraine and its other neighbors, and embolden other expansionist regimes.[11][56][57][58][59] Zelenskyy commented: "It's the same thing Hitler did, when he said 'give me a part ofCzechoslovakia and it'll end here'."[60] Leo Litra of the European Council on Foreign Relations pointed out that allowing Russia to annex Crimea in 2014 did not stop further Russian aggression. Opinion polls show that the majority of Ukrainians oppose giving up any of their country for peace.[61]
The occupation began on February 24, 2022, immediately after Russian troops invaded Ukraine and began seizing parts of the Kharkiv Oblast. Since April, Russian forces tried to consolidate control in the region and capture the major city of Kharkiv after their withdrawal from Northern Ukraine. However, by mid-May, the Ukrainian forces pushed the Russians back towards the periphery of the Russian border,[62] indicating that Ukrainians continue to garner stiff resistance against Russian advances. In early September 2022, Ukrainian forces began a major counteroffensive and by 11 September 2022, Russia had retreated from most of the settlements it previously occupied in the oblast,[63] and the Russian Ministry of Defense announced a formal withdrawal of Russian forces from nearly all of Kharkiv Oblast stating that an "operation to curtail and transfer troops" was underway."[64][65]
Sergey Kiriyenko became Putin's point man in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
On February 24, 2022, Russian troops from Crimea invaded Henichesk and Skadovsk Raions. During the first days of the offensive, the Russians surrounded most of the cities and towns in the oblast, blocking the entrances to them with roadblocks, but not entering the cities themselves. Significant battles were fought for the Antonivskyi Bridge, which crosses the Dnipro River between Russian positions on the South bank and the Ukrainian city of Kherson on the North bank. The Russian military's overwhelming firepower forced the Ukrainian forces to retreat, and the city fell to Russian control on March 2.[67] On June 29, the Russian occupation authorities in Kherson Oblast announced preparations for holding a referendum of annexation.[68] On July 9, the Ukrainian government announced preparations for an imminent counteroffensive in the South, and urged the residents of occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts to shelter or evacuate to minimize civilian casualties in the operation.[69] Following the destruction of the Antonivskyi Bridge and the advance of Ukrainian troops from the west, the lack of sustainable supply lines amid heavy Ukrainian shelling compelled the Russian forces to retreat. They eventually retreated from all areas on the North bank of the Dnipro River, including the city of Kherson, which the Ukrainian forces recaptured soon after, known as the liberation of Kherson.
Liberated Kherson after shelling by the Russian army on 15 January 2023
Damage to a residential building in Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia following the airstrike of 9 October 2022
On February 26, 2022, the city of Berdiansk came under Russian control, followed by Melitopol on March 1 after fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Russian troops also besieged and captured the city of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is located, which came under Russian control on March 4. Since July, there have been increased tensions around the power plant as both Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of missile strikes around the plant,[70] causing fears of a potential repeat of the Chernobyl Disaster.
Ethnic Russians by region (2001 census). Russia used the "protection" of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine as one of the pretexts for the invasion and occupation.
Since the invasion, the Russian military, along with the Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic, built on territorial gains they have made during the war in Donbas and captured additional territory, most significantly the port of Mariupol after a prolonged siege.
By February 24, 2022, the following raions of Donetsk Oblast were occupied:
On July 3, 2022, the Russian military claimed that the entire Luhansk Oblast has been "liberated",[73] suggesting that Russian forces has succeeded in occupying the entire oblast and marked a major milestone for their goal of capturing the Donbas in Eastern Ukraine.
However, by September 19, Ukraine recaptured Bilohorivka.[74] By early October, Ukrainian forces liberated several more settlements as their counteroffensive operations shifted focus into the main territory of the oblast,[75] specifically the half north of the Siverskyi Donets in the Battle of the Svatove–Kreminna line. By May 2024, Ukraine had again lost control of Bilohorivka.[76]
The occupation of Mykolaiv Oblast began on February 26, 2022, with Russian troops crossing into the oblast through the Kherson Oblast from Crimea. In March, Russia attempted to advance towards Voznesensk, Mykolaiv and Nova Odesa, but were met with stiff resistance and failed. By May, Russia occupied Snihurivka, Tsentralne, Novopetrivka and numerous other small villages within the oblast. All these were retaken on 10–11 November 2022 during the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which followed the withdrawal of Russian troops from the right bank of the Dnieper.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with soldiers who distinguished themselves during the liberation of Kherson, 14 November 2022Civilians during Zelenskyy's visit following the liberation of Kherson, 14 November 2022
Russia started the occupation as part of the northern campaign in the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The occupying forces occupied a large part of the oblast, and eventually laid siege to the oblast capital, but failed to capture the city. Eventually, their stagnant progress led to their complete withdrawal from the oblast by early April, ending the occupation.
Zelenskyy in the Kyiv Oblast following the recapture of the region by Ukraine, 4 April 2022
Russia started the occupation as part of the northern offensive in the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russian troops occupied a large part of the oblast, even approaching the borders of Kyiv city proper. However, the invaders' stagnant progress led to their failure to capture the Ukrainian capital, and eventually led to a complete withdrawal from the oblast by early April, ending the occupation.
From 24 February to 30 June 2022, Russian forces occupied Snake Island in Odesa Oblast, but later withdrew after suffering heavy missile, artillery and drone strikes from the Ukrainian forces.[86]
Poltava Oblast
During the battles of Lebedyn and Okhtyrka, Sumy Oblast, Russian forces spilled over and attacked Hadiach on 4 March 2022,[87][88][bettersourceneeded] and captured small areas around it, and advanced near Zinkiv and occupied Pirky on 3 March, but were repelled.[89][90] They were soon afterwards repelled which was known as the "Hadiach Safari", since people used shotguns and rifles to hunt for Russian soldiers.[91] Some notable areas captured were Pirky and Bobryk.[92]
Russia started the occupation as part of the northern offensive in the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Russian military occupied a large part of the oblast, but failed to take the oblast capital. Eventually, the stagnant progress of the Russian Ground Forces led to their complete withdrawal from the oblast by early April, ending the occupation.
Russia started the occupation as part of the Northern offensive in the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Russians occupied a small portion of the oblast, and never attempted to capture the oblast capital. Eventually, the culmination of the drive on Kyiv led to their complete withdrawal from the oblast by early April, ending the occupation.
The United Nations Human Rights Office reports that Russia is committing severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine. These include arbitrary detentions, torture, looting, and enforced disappearances by Russian soldiers acting with "impunity". Peaceful protests and freedom of speech have been suppressed, while freedom of movement is severely restricted.[3] Anyone suspected of opposing the occupation has been targeted, while people have been "encouraged to inform on one another, leaving them afraid even of their own friends and neighbours".[3]
Ukrainians have been coerced into taking Russian passports and becoming Russian citizens. Those who refuse are denied healthcare, freedom of movement, public sector employment and social security benefits.[3] From July 2024, anyone in occupied Ukraine who does not have a Russian passport can be imprisoned as a "foreign citizen". Ukrainian men who take a Russian passport are then drafted to fight against the Ukrainian army.[93]
The UN reports that Ukrainian children are the worst affected. Schools are forced to teach the Russian curriculum, with textbooks that seek to justify the invasion.[3] Children are also enlisted into youth groups that indoctrinate them with Russian nationalism.[3] There are reports of parents who refuse Russian passports having their children taken away from them.[94] The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized Russia's abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children as genocidal.[95]
Ukrainian language and media has been replaced by Russian language and media.[3]
United Nations special rapporteurs have condemned the Russian occupation authorities for attempting "to erase local [Ukrainian] culture, history, and language" and to forcibly replace it with Russian language and culture. Monuments and places of worship have been razed, while Ukrainian history books and literature deemed to be "extremist" have been seized from public libraries and destroyed. Civil servants and teachers have been detained for their refusal to implement Russian policy.[97] The International Court of Justice ruled that Russia had broken the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by restricting school classes in the Ukrainian language in occupied Crimea.[98]
Following the liberation of occupied territories, thousands of civilians were accused of collaboration. They are tried by a single judge without a jury. The offense is punished by up to ten years of prison, with some of those convicted getting three or five years of prison. The accused include people who worked as volunteers and held administrative positions during the occupation.[99]
On 20 April 2016 Ukraine officially established government Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons.[38] It was subsequently renamed the Temporarily Occupied Territories, IDPs and veterans and then the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories. The current minister is Iryna Vereshchuk, appointed on 4 November 2021.[100]
In March 2014, in a vote at the United Nations, 100 member states out of 193[101] did not recognize the annexation of the Crimea by Russia, with only Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe voting against the resolution[102] (see United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262).
The United Nations passed three resolutions regarding the issue of "human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol", first in December 2016,[103] then again a year later in December 2017,[104] and lastly yet another in December 2018.
Condemning the ongoing temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine, namely, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (hereinafter referred to as "Crimea"), by the Russian Federation, and reaffirming the non-recognition of its annexation[40]
In April 2018, PACE's emergency assembly recognized occupied regions of Ukraine as "territories under effective control by the Russian Federation".[105][106] Chairman of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, MP Volodymyr Aryev mentioned that recognition of the fact that part of the occupied Donbas is under Russia's control is so important for Ukraine. "The responsibility for all the crimes committed in the uncontrolled territories is removed from Ukraine. Russia becomes responsible", Aryev wrote on Facebook.[107]
Luhansk Oblast, also referred to as Luhanshchyna (Луганщина), is the easternmost oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the name Voroshilovgrad Oblast until 1958 and again from 1970 to 1991. It has a population of 2,102,921.
The administrative divisions of Ukraine are under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Constitution. Ukraine is a unitary state with three levels of administrative divisions: 27 regions, 136 raions (districts) and 1469 hromadas.
Kherson Oblast, also known as Khersonshchyna, is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank of the Dnieper river, which bisects the oblast. The oblast has an area of 28,461 km2 and a population of 1,001,598. It is considered the 'fruit basket' of the country, as much of its agricultural production is dispersed throughout the country, with production peaking during the summer months.
Popasna is a city in Sievierodonetsk Raion, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Popasna urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 2018, it was estimated that it had a population of 20,600 people.
Kalmiuske or Komsomolske is a city in Kalmiuske Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is a limestone mining city, located on the Kalmius river of eastern Ukraine. It has a population of 11,422.
Administrative divisions development in Ukraine reviews the history of changes in the administrative divisions of Ukraine, in chronological order.
An urban district or urban raion is the second-level administrative division in certain cities in Ukraine. There are 118 districts in 20 cities across Ukraine. The cities that contain districts are mostly administrative centers in addition to the two cities with special status. The number of city districts per region varies between a minimum of two and a high of 21 in Donetsk Oblast. The maximum districts for a single city in the country is Kyiv, which has 10 districts. Cities which have abolished their urban districts are marked in italics below.
Bilovodsk Raion was a raion (district) in Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. The administrative center of the raion was the urban-type settlement of Bilovodsk. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Luhansk Oblast to eight. The last estimate of the raion population was 22,856.
Popasna Raion was a raion (district) in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine until its abolition in 2020. The administrative center was the town of Popasna. The last estimate of the raion population was 74,028.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has been involved in territorial disputes with a number of other post-Soviet states. These disputes are primarily an aspect of the post-Soviet conflicts, and have led to some countries losing parts of their sovereign territory to what a large portion of the international community designates as a Russian military occupation. As such, these lands are commonly described as Russian-occupied territories, regardless of what their status is in Russian law. The term is applied to Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia occupied vast portions of the territory of Ukraine, having already occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as well as the entire Autonomous Republic of Crimea since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2014. Partisan groups began to be organized in mid-2022. These groups have been involved in intelligence-gathering, sabotage, and assassinations. Much of their activity has taken place in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The Russian occupation of Mykolaiv Oblast is an ongoing military occupation of Ukraine's Mykolaiv Oblast by Russian forces during the Russian invasion of Ukraine as part of the southern Ukraine campaign. The Russian-installed occupation regime was called the "Nikolaev military-civilian administration".
The Russian occupation of Zhytomyr Oblast was a military occupation that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The capital, Zhytomyr was never captured and was bombed in the 2022 Zhytomyr attacks. Small towns and settlements were however captured, in the north-west and north-central Korosten Raion, near the border with Kyiv Oblast.
The Yellow Ribbon is a resistance movement in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Created in April 2022 after the Russian military invasion, the goal of the movement is resisting the Russian occupation of Ukraine.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Russo-Ukrainian War:
↑ "Ukraine - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. 29 December 2021. approximately 43,133 sq km, or about 7.1% of Ukraine's area, is Russian occupied; the seized area includes all of Crimea and about one-third of both Luhans'k and Donets'k oblasts.
1 2 У Гройсмана створили нове міністерство[The Cabinet decided to create the Ministry of temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons], Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian), 20 April 2016, archived from the original on 28 March 2019, retrieved 26 January 2017
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