February 24, 2022 - Present
The Russo-Ukrainian War started on February 24, 2022. That day, Russian President Putin said he was launching a "special military operation" to "demilitarize" and "denazify" Ukraine. But the real reasons go back further. In 2014, Russia took over Ukraine's Crimea and helped separatists in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine wanted to join NATO and the EU, which made Russia feel threatened and angry.
Before the war, Russia put lots of troops near the border, saying Ukraine was mistreating Russian-speaking people. Ukraine and Western countries said this wasn't true.
Current Situation
(as of March 14, 2025)
It's now March 2025, and the war has been going on for over three years. No one has fully won. Russia controls parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, like Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Crimea. In the summer of 2024, Ukraine fought back and even entered Russia's Kursk region, but then the fighting got stuck.
The war is tough, and many people have died. The United Nations says tens of thousands of civilians are hurt or dead, and millions have lost their homes. Winter came, and many places in Ukraine have no power or heat because things got destroyed.
