Pro-Russian separatists seized cities in eastern Ukraine in 2014

Russian forces seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014

Days after Ukraine's 2014 revolution, unmarked Russian troops occupied key sites in Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula with a predominantly Russian-speaking population that had been part of Ukraine since 1954.

Protests in Ukraine from 2013 to 2014 set the stage for the current conflict

Beginning in November 2013, the Euromaidan movement saw hundreds of thousands of protesters gather in Kyiv's Independence Square after the government rejected an EU deal. Months of demonstrations and violent crackdowns culminated in President Yanukovych fleeing to Russia. Note: graphic content.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine killed thousands in the years before Russia's full invasion

From 2014 to 2022, fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region killed roughly 14,000 people and left many cities in ruins, setting the stage for Russia's 2022 invasion.

Russia armed and backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine while denying involvement

Throughout the Donbas conflict, Russia covertly supplied weapons, training, and troops to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, even as the Kremlin publicly denied direct involvement in the fighting.

Ukraine's contested Donbas region: a visual explainer

Russia's heavily industrialized eastern Donbas region has been largely controlled by Russian separatists since 2014. Here's everything you need to know on the key strategic region.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022

Russia launched a massive multifront assault from Belarus, Russia, and Crimea, aiming to seize Kyiv within days. Instead, Ukrainian forces repelled the advance, halting Moscow's plans for a rapid takeover.

Russia annexed Crimea after a disputed 2014 referendum

On March 16, 2014, a disputed referendum in Crimea reported overwhelming support for joining Russia. Moscow annexed the peninsula two days later, a move widely condemned as a violation of international law.

Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine's territory

As of February 2026, Russian forces occupy roughly one-fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea and large parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, with front lines largely unchanged for months.

Language and region are fault lines in Ukraine's conflict

Ukraine's east and south—largely Russian-speaking—differ from the Ukrainian-speaking west and center. These geographic, linguistic, and cultural divides have become fault lines exploited by political and military conflict since 2014.

Russian Roulette offered raw, on-the-ground reporting from Ukraine's 2014 war

VICE News' Russian Roulette series includes more than 100 on-the-ground episodes, filmed in real time during the 2014 conflict in Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk. Reporter Simon Ostrovsky was kidnapped by pro-Russian forces while documenting the war.

Ukraine became independent after the Soviet Union's collapse

Ukraine declared independence on Aug. 24, 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In a national referendum, over 90% of Ukrainians approved independence, establishing a democratic constitution and marking the birth of a modern sovereign state.

The Minsk peace accords failed to end fighting in eastern Ukraine in the mid-2010s

The Minsk Agreements of 2014 and 2015 sought to halt the war in eastern Ukraine through ceasefires and political reforms, but repeated violations left the accords unenforced and the conflict unresolved.

Prehistoric to present day Ukraine

Recognizing the abundance of information available on the current war between Ukraine and Russia, this video focuses on the history of the region. Encapsulating Ukraine's background, the viewer will gain a better grasp of how the modern state arose from a quilt of different ethnicities, noteworthy conflicts between various groups, and more.

Ukraine came under Russian imperial rule in the late 18th century

After centuries of division among neighboring powers, most of present-day Ukraine was absorbed into the Russian Empire by the late 1700s, marking the beginning of a long period of imperial control and cultural suppression.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has destabilized safety and oversight at Chernobyl

Russian forces cut power and disabled monitoring of the decommissioned nuclear power plant in 2022, endangering operators at Chernobyl. In February 2025, a Russian drone struck the confinement structure—part of broader efforts to pressure Ukraine's energy infrastructure—punching a hole in the containment shell.

Many countries remained neutral after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, few nations outside the West imposed sanctions on Moscow. Major powers such as China, India, Brazil, and Turkey remained neutral, underscoring global divisions over how to confront Russian aggression.

Oil prices spiked when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022

The price of a barrel of Brent crude experienced volatility in the early 2020s. This chart shows price spikes at the beginning of the pandemic and again when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Ukraine's reformist candidate survived a poisoning attempt in 2004

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin, which disfigured his face but did not prevent him from winning the rerun election. The attack was widely suspected to involve pro-Russian security forces.

The origins of Putin's 'Nazism' claim in Ukraine

Ukraine has had a varied history, and is home to a rich diversity of ethnicities, religions, and people. In the time leading up to Russia's attacks on the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to Ukraine as a "Nazi nation", owing to Ukrainian nationalists' acceptance of the invading Nazis as liberators from the Soviet Union in WWII. The history is more complex than that. Read this Smithsonian Magazine article to learn more.

Ukraine has received over $300B in Western military and financial aid

Although not a member of NATO, Ukraine has received substantial support from Western nations, primarily the United States and the European Union, totaling more than $300B in military, financial, and humanitarian assistance.

Ukraine's sushi restaurants have remained open through the country's war with Russia

Although the country's cities have become battlegrounds, its sushi restaurants—a popular comfort food for Ukrainians—have remained open. That's especially surprising considering they require imported fresh fish and highly skilled chefs.

What led to the October Revolution?

The 1917 Russian Revolution is actually two separate revolutions. One happened that spring that ended centuries of Tsarist rule and led to the establishment of a provisional government. Another happened that autumn during which the Bolshevik...

Soviet control spread across Eastern Europe after WWII

In the late 1940s, the USSR solidified control over Eastern Europe by installing pro-communist regimes in countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania—often through rigged elections and political repression.

Carles Puigdemont's final shot at Catalan independence

As president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont attempted to declare independence from Spain in 2017. Wanted by Madrid on charges of rebellion, sedition, and embezzlement of public funds, he lived in exile in Belgium for seven years. On the eve of his return to Spain following an amnesty deal in the summer of 2024, POLITICO visited him in France to learn about his latest political ambitions.

Abraham Lincoln's victory in 1860 sparked Southern secession—even before his inauguration

Abraham Lincoln's election on an antislavery expansion platform convinced many Southerners that their way of life was under threat. Within three months, seven states seceded from the Union—forming the Confederacy—before Lincoln took office in March 1861.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Ebola species have historically been named after where they were discovered, stigmatizing residents who live there, including Bundibugyo, in Uganda.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.