It has been three years since Russia launched its full-scale aggression against Ukraine. The 24th of February is the date that disrupted the peaceful life of every one of us — and became a symbol of the endurance and heroism of the Ukrainian people, who stood up together to protect their land, their freedom, and their children's future. Alongside Ukrainians stood an international community that supported the pursuit of freedom and joined the fight against Russian aggression.
The Research Center of Military History of the Armed Forces of Ukraine developed a periodization of the contemporary Russian-Ukrainian War in 2022 and updated it at the beginning of 2024. The periodization was approved by the Ukrainian military authority and personally by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General V. Zaluzhnyi. It provides a basis for a comprehensive and objective study of the experience of the war.
The periodization of the third period — which begins with the full-scale invasion of February 24th, 2022 — was put together in collaboration with the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff and the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense. Preparation for the invasion took place within the final stage of the second period of armed aggression (December 2021 – February 24th, 2022).
Covers the major measures taken by the political leadership of the Russian Federation to initiate the aggressive war, the measures the Ukrainian military-political leadership took to prepare to fight back, and the strategic deployment of both parties' troops.
The enemy invaded from multiple border points to fulfill a “blitzkrieg” scenario: seize Kyiv, overthrow the legitimate Ukrainian leadership and install a puppet government, isolate Ukrainian troops in the east, and occupy the east and south to secure a land corridor to Crimea and Transnistria. Ukrainian defense action disrupted the offensive, prevented the seizure of the capital, denied the enemy air dominance, and halted Russian troops in every direction. Ukraine's leadership rallied the international community for the economic and diplomatic isolation of the aggressor and secured large-scale material and technical aid from partner states.
The enemy abandoned its initial plans, withdrew and regrouped, and focused on seizing all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and holding occupied territory. It lost the strategic initiative, and offensive intensity fell in most directions. Ukraine's forces pushed the enemy out of the southwest of the Black Sea. Building reserves, receiving aid, and careful planning created the conditions for offensive operations to liberate occupied territory.
Ukrainian forces conducted a large-scale offensive in the Kherson and Kupiansk-Lyman directions, liberating most of the occupied Kharkiv region and throwing the enemy back over the Dnipro River. To halt the advance, the enemy resorted to partial mobilization and widened the use of private military companies. Facing the loss of occupied territory, Russia announced the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions and began a strategic air campaign against Ukraine's critical power infrastructure.
After liberating parts of the Kharkiv and Kherson regions, Ukraine moved to strategic defense. The enemy concentrated on defense in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions while pressing an offensive in Donetsk — toward Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Kupiansk, and Lyman — with continuous attempts to encircle Ukrainian forces. Ukraine held, draining the enemy's offensive potential and setting the conditions for a counter-offensive.
The enemy focused on forcing the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of the Bakhmut area and breaching toward Sloviansk, massively using artillery and private military companies replenished with mercenary prisoners. At the cost of enormous losses, the enemy gradually pushed Ukrainian units back — taking Soledar in January and, after fighting for every street and house, the ruined city of Bakhmut on May 22nd, when the last Ukrainian units withdrew. The enemy failed to disrupt Ukrainian logistics or encircle the defenders.
The enemy sought to push Ukrainian units out of Vuhledar and breach the “Donetsk” defense lines. Despite intense assaults and heavy losses, it advanced only about two kilometers and failed to breach the defense. On February 9th, Ukrainian forces destroyed an armored group of tanks and fighting vehicles. Vuhledar remained a crucial anchor of the eastern defense.
After withdrawing from right-bank Kherson in November 2022, the enemy sought control of the Dnipro delta islands. Ukrainian forces ran raids, eliminated enemy footholds, and by early 2023 regained control of Velykyi Potomkin island, preparing to secure a bridgehead on the left bank — until, on June 6th, 2023, the enemy blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, flooding the islands and forcing a withdrawal.
Ukraine launched its second strategic offensive to liberate occupied territory, concentrating on the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions. In the Bakhmut direction, Ukrainian units counterattacked the flanks and by late October had driven the enemy from Klishchiivka and Andriivka. In the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, the offensive that began on June 4th liberated Lobkove, Piatykhatky, Robotyne, and a string of settlements — but without air superiority, and against deeply echeloned minefields, the offensive could not break through the enemy's prepared defense. In the autumn the enemy opened its own offensive toward Kupiansk and, from October 10th, toward Avdiivka.
Both sides are forming new reserves and increasing weapons production in preparation for the 2024 campaign, informed by the combat experience of 2023. Ukrainian units continue to contain the enemy's advance in the Kupiansk and Avdiivka directions. The theater, the operational directions, and the ways the armed forces are employed have remained the same since the end of stage five.
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