One in the northeast expelled Russian forces from Kharkiv oblast and pressed assaults into Luhansk oblast. In September, the Ukrainian army launched two counteroffensives. After three months of grinding battle, Russian forces captured almost all of Luhansk, but they made little progress in Donetsk, and the battlelines appeared to stabilize in August. Moscow proclaimed its new objective as occupying all of Donbas, consisting of the oblasts (regions) of Luhansk and Donetsk, some 35% of which had already been occupied by Russian and Russian proxy forces in 20. By late March, Russian forces were in retreat in the north. The Russian army gained ground in southern Ukraine, but it failed to take Kyiv. The broad scope of the assault, which Putin termed a “special military operation,” suggested that Moscow’s objectives were to quickly seize Kyiv, presumably deposing the government, and occupy as much as the eastern half to two-thirds of the country. This latest phase in hostilities between Russia and Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin directed his forces to launch a major, multi-prong invasion of Ukraine. It will make any near-term restoration of a degree of normalcy in U.S.-Russian relations difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. The war has badly damaged Russia’s military and tarnished its reputation, disrupted the economy, and profoundly altered the geopolitical picture facing Moscow in Europe. While the war has been a tragedy for Ukraine and Ukrainians, it has also proven a disaster for Russia - militarily, economically, and geopolitically. However, some major ramifications for Russia and its relations with Ukraine, Europe, and the United States have come into focus. Projecting the ultimate outcome of the war is challenging.

Ukraine war 2020