Updates on the world’s nations and borders
The next is a chronology of adjustments to territorial management and different main occasions since our final map report on insurgent management in Donetsk and Luhansk on September 29, 2020, with a give attention to the occasions main as much as and in the course of the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022.
Terminology notes: On our map and timeline we have now typically spelled place names inside Ukraine based mostly on the Ukrainian-language variations, since Ukrainian is the nation’s official language. Many locations even have an alternate identify based mostly on the Russian language, which can be spoken in Ukraine. Now we have made exceptions for some locations with well-established English names, comparable to Odessa and the Dnieper River.
Within the case of the Luhansk/Lugansk, PolGeoNow makes use of the Ukrainian spelling (“Luhansk”) for the province of Ukraine, and the Russian spelling (“Lugansk”) for the self-proclaimed Lugansk Folks’s Republic, whose official language is Russian. For Ukraine’s capital metropolis, traditionally recognized in English by its Russian identify, Kiev, we have now used the Ukrainian model, Kyiv with a purpose to conform to each our personal conference and the rising consensus amongst information media.
Ukraine’s administrative subdivisions are referred to as “provinces” in our timeline, but it surely’s additionally widespread to listen to them known as “areas”, or by the Ukrainian-language time period, “oblasts”. Province names haven’t been labelled on the above map, as a result of each province talked about within the timeline shares a reputation with a serious metropolis that already seems there.
Western students and historians typically dispute that NATO made any formal pledges. In 1990, US Secretary of State James Baker had advised Soviet chief Mikhail Gorbachev that “NATO won’t transfer one inch additional east.” On the time, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl additionally advised Gorbachev that “naturally NATO couldn’t increase its territory to the present territory of” Soviet-backed East Germany. Then-US President George H.W. Bush reportedly thought each Baker and Kohl had gone too far, however NATO’s then-secretary normal additionally pledged that NATO wouldn’t lengthen previous the territory of East Germany.
After that, Russia and the Western nations reached an settlement that will enable NATO to station its troops in reunified Germany solely, whereas additional eastward growth was thought-about inconceivable on the time. Western researchers level out that the pledges made on the time weren’t formal, solely verbal, and that it was a time when the Soviet Union nonetheless existed and its fall couldn’t but be predicted. Years later, Gorbachev defined that the Baker comment was being taken out of context and that the subject of the dialogue was that NATO’s navy buildings and forces wouldn’t be deployed on the territory of the previous East Germany after Germany’s reunification. Nonetheless, Gorbachev did state that what unfolded after 1990, with extra nations becoming a member of NATO, was “a violation of the spirit of the statements and assurances made to us in 1990”.
Additional, declassified paperwork from 2017 confirmed that a number of nationwide leaders in 1990 and 1991 at first rejected Central and Japanese European membership in NATO, and that dialogue of NATO in the course of the German unification negotiations weren’t narrowly restricted to the standing of East Germany.
December 31, 2021
It was reported that 79 Ukrainian troopers had been killed throughout 2021, together with three in December. Compared, 70 DPR fighters and 7 civilians residing in DPR-held territories had been reported to have killed in the course of the yr.
January 3, 2022
US President Biden reassured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the USA and its allies would “reply decisively” if Russia invaded Ukraine. The implication was that the US would reply with robust financial punishments or different sanctions, having already dominated out sending troops to straight fight any Russian invasion. Many worry {that a} direct struggle between the US and Russia may result in a world struggle involving nuclear weapons – each nations see themselves as navy superpowers and preserve giant arsenals of nuclear missiles.
January 7, 2022
The US and NATO once more rejected Russia’s demand to vow a halt to NATO’s growth.
January 19, 2022
President Biden acknowledged that he anticipated Russia to invade Ukraine.
January 26-28, 2022
The US and NATO but once more rejected Russia’s demand to finish NATO’s growth, however stated they provided a “critical diplomatic path” ahead, whereas President Biden warned Ukraine that there was a “distinct risk” Russia may invade the nation in February. Two days later, Russia acknowledged that its safety considerations had been being ignored. It was revealed that the USA and NATO had provided Russia disarmament measures, together with permitting it to verify the absence of missiles in NATO member nations Romania and Bulgaria.
January 31, 2022
On the United Nations (UN) Safety Council, Russia accused the West of “whipping up tensions” concerning Ukraine and stated the USA had introduced “pure Nazis” to energy within the nation’s authorities. Neo-Nazi ideologies are recognized to have gained followers in Ukraine lately, with many such followers thought to have infiltrated the nation’s navy and police. Nonetheless, the concept these components are answerable for the nation isn’t thought-about credible by many exterior observers – Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy is even Jewish, with relations who had been killed by the unique Nazis in the Holocaust.
February 2, 2022
It was introduced that the USA would ship 2,000 troops to Europe, stationing them in Germany and Poland, whereas 1,000 troops would transfer from Germany to Romania. The US already had about 60,000 troopers stationed in Europe presently, together with in Poland and Germany.
February 3, 2022
The US shared new intelligence that it stated confirmed Russia was planning a pretext to invade Ukraine.
February 6-12, 2022
1000’s of Russian troops had been deployed to Belarus – simply north of Ukraine – for navy workout routines (Belarus is a shut ally of Russia). The US estimated that 30,000 could be current for the drills. The joint drills with the Belarusian navy began on February 10. On the similar time, the Russian navy was getting ready for naval drills within the Black Sea, whereas Ukraine accused Russia of a naval blockade. The large-scale naval drills began on February 12.
February 7, 2022
It was introduced that the United Kingdom (UK) would ship 350 troops to Poland, whereas Germany would ship 350 troops to Lithuania, one of many Baltic NATO member nations bordering northern Russia.
February 11, 2022
It was introduced that the US would ship an extra 3,000 troops to Poland, whereas President Biden acknowledged that Russia may invade Ukraine on February 16.
February 15, 2022
The Russian parliament voted to ask President Vladimir Putin to formally acknowledge the Donetsk Folks’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk Folks’s Republic (LPR) as impartial nations. Each would-be nations been declared impartial from Ukraine in 2014, after Russia-backed rebels captured a lot of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, however to this point no UN member nation, even their ally Russia, had formally acknowledged them as impartial.
In the meantime, the LPR reported that one in all its Russian volunteer troopers was killed by a Ukrainian sniper on the frontline in Donbass. Individually, Russia acknowledged that it was conducting a partial withdrawal of its troops from Ukraine’s border.
February 15-17, 2022
President Biden stated that 150,000 Russian troops had amassed alongside Ukraine’s border. It was reported two days later that one other 7,000 arrived.
February 16, 2022
The UK introduced that it will double its variety of its troops in Estonia, one other of the Baltic NATO member nations.
February 18, 2022
The DPR and the LPR introduced a “mass evacuation” of civilians into Russia, accusing the Ukrainian authorities of planning a brand new assault on their territories. Many residents of the 2 areas had been given Russian citizenship and passports since 2019. In the meantime, it was reported that the variety of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border had reached 190,000.
February 20, 2022
Because the joint navy workout routines between Russia and Belarus had been supposed to finish, it was introduced that Russian troops would stay in Belarus and the drills could be prolonged because of the deteriorating relations with Ukraine. Moreover, it was stated the 30,000 Russian troops would stay in Belarus indefinitely.
February 20-23, 2022
Shelling alongside the frontline between the Ukrainian navy and pro-Russian separatists left six Ukrainian troopers lifeless. Total, 9 Ukrainian troopers had been killed on the frontline for the reason that begin of the yr.
February 21-22, 2022
President Putin signed a presidential decree formally recognizing the DPR and LPR as nations impartial of Ukraine. Agreements had been additionally reached giving Russia permission to construct navy bases within the DPR and LPR – a serious change from the earlier standing of the territories, which had been nonetheless thought-about a part of Ukraine by a lot of the remainder of the world. Syria, in addition to Yemen’s internationally-unrecognized Houthi authorities, stated they supported Russia in its resolution to acknowledge the independence of the DPR and LPR, with Belarus, the Central African Republic, Nicaragua, and Venezuela becoming a member of in. As of the date of this report, none of those nations apart from Russia was confirmed to have formally prolonged its personal recognition. The next day, the US, UK, and European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Russian banks, lawmakers, and different distinguished people.
February 22, 2022
It was introduced that the US would ship 800 extra troops to the Baltic nations.
February 23, 2022
The federal government of Canada, additionally a NATO member, introduced that it will ship 460 extra troops to japanese Europe. In the meantime, the DPR and LPR, based mostly on their new standing as impartial nations in accordance with Russia, requested the Russian authorities for navy help.
February 24, 2022
President Putin declared the beginning of a Russian navy operation in Ukraine, with its purported goal being the “demilitarization and de-nazification of Ukraine”.
Russian troops entered Ukraine from the north, east, and south. Within the north, Russian floor forces superior 5 kilometers (three miles) into Ukraine in Kharkiv and Chernihiv provinces, in addition to on the former Chernobyl nuclear energy plant. Following a helicopter assault, Russian forces additionally took management of a serious worldwide cargo airport within the Kyiv suburb of Hostomel (25 kilometers, or 15 miles, from the capital). In addition they captured Sumy, a provincial capital within the north.
Within the east, Russian troops seized two villages in Luhansk province as they reportedly superior between six and eight kilometers (4 and 5 miles) past the DPR and LPR’s earlier limits of management. The Russian navy additionally entered the Luhansk area from Russia by means of three instructions, capturing a number of villages.
And within the south, Russian forces superior northwards from the already Russian-controlled Crimea peninsula (which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014), capturing two cities, a bridge, and a hydroelectric plant close to Kherson. In addition they reached Kherson’s provincial capital, thus bringing a number of elements of the province beneath their management, together with the North Crimean Canal, which connects the Crimea peninsula to the Dnieper River. As well as, Russian forces captured Snake Island within the Black Sea, off the coast of Ukraine. Russia was stated to be primarily focusing on navy infrastructure and silos.
In the night, heavy city preventing erupted in Sumy, whereas counter-attacking Ukrainian forces recaptured the Hostomel Airport.
The first day of preventing left 137 Ukrainians lifeless, together with a minimum of 25 civilians. Of these killed, 18 died in a missile assault on a navy base in Odessa, whereas six had been killed in a strike on a city close to Kyiv focusing on a particular forces base. 5 troopers additionally died when their navy transport airplane was shot down close to Kyiv, whereas a Russian assault helicopter was downed in the course of the takeover of the airport. Russia additionally confirmed the lack of a Su-25 assault jet as a result of “pilot error” and a navy transport airplane with its entire crew in Russia’s Voronezh area as a result of a technical malfunction. Additional, Russia reported that two civilian vessels had been hit by Ukrainian missiles within the Sea of Azov, inflicting a number of casualties. Total, in accordance with Russia, 83 navy targets had been hit on the primary day of its operation.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US, UK, and EU imposed financial sanctions on Russia.
February 25, 2022
Within the early hours of February 25, Russian forces in Ukraine’s Sumy province surrounded the town of Konotop and continued to advance west in the direction of Ukraine’s capital metropolis, Kyiv. Within the south, they took management of Melitopol metropolis with out resistance. In the meantime, Russian “sabotage teams” had been reported to have entered Kyiv and engaged Ukrainian troops in a number of elements of the town. In the course of the morning, the Russian navy superior on Kyiv from the north alongside either side of the Dnieper River, with heavy preventing happening on the city of Ivankiv, round 60 km (35 miles) northwest of the capital, and shortly afterwards Russian troops had been reported to have entered Kyiv’s northern Obolon neighborhood.
The Russian navy was additionally confirmed to have taken management of Hostomel Airport once more, after an air assault that was stated to have concerned some 200 helicopters. To the northeast of Kyiv, Chernikiv was reportedly surrounded, and Semenivka was beneath Russian management. Within the south, Ukrainian forces quickly recaptured a bridge at Kherson that that they had misplaced the day before today, earlier than the Russian navy breached Kherson’s defenses and as soon as once more seized the bridge. A Russian amphibious assault was additionally stated to have taken place west of Mariupol.
Within the early night, a Ukrainian missile assault hit a Russian air base close to Millerovo, 16 km (9 mi) from the Ukrainian-Russian border, reportedly destroying two Su-27 fighter jets. Later, it was reported that Russian troops had been pressured out of the southern metropolis of Melitopol, however that it was surrounded and heavy preventing was happening. Ukraine stated that it managed solely half of the town, whereas Russia reported that its personal forces had been in management there. In the meantime, Russian forces captured Konotop within the north.
The Ukrainian demise toll was reported to have risen to 194, together with 57 civilians, whereas the UK claimed that 450 Russian troopers had been killed. In the course of the day’s preventing, a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet was shot down over Kyiv. Russia reported that it had disabled 211 navy services for the reason that begin of its navy operations.
Within the night, the EU, UK, and Canada imposed particular person sanctions on President Vladimir Putin and his overseas minister, Sergey Lavrov, locking them out from any financial institution accounts or investments that they had in these nations. Later, a UN Safety Council vote blocked a decision that will have deplored Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and requested that Russia cease its assault and withdraw its forces. Eleven Safety Council members voted for the decision, however Russia vetoed it, whereas China, India, and the United Arab Emirates abstained from voting. As everlasting members of the Safety Council, the US, UK, France, Russia, and China every have veto energy, whereas the opposite member nations, whose membership rotates, have equal votes however no veto. Following the vote, the United States additionally sanctioned President Putin and Minister Lavrov.
February 26, 2022
Within the early hours, heavy preventing erupted within the western a part of the capital close to the Kyiv Zoo and within the metropolis’s Shuliavka neighborhood, in addition to at an influence station within the northeastern Troieschyna district. Later, Ukraine claimed {that a} Russian assault on a navy base on Kyiv’s Peremohy Avenue was repelled. Heavy clashes additionally came about within the city of Vasylkiv, round 30 km (20 mi) southwest of Kyiv, as Russian airborne troops performed an assault behind enemy strains. In line with Ukrainian and US officers, two Russian navy transport planes had been shot down south of Kyiv, together with one at Vasylkiv.
By morning, the assault on Vasylkiv had been repelled, whereas Ukrainian forces regained management of Kyiv. Afterwards, the US and UK estimated that almost all of the advancing Russian forces had been 30 km (20 mi) from Kyiv, whereas in accordance with the US the items that entered the capital had been “reconnaissance components”. Battle-tracker Suriyak claimed that the preventing contained in the capital had been infighting between Ukrainian safety forces and dissident teams, in addition to clashes between just lately armed civilians, moderately than a Russian navy assault. Yesterday, the Ukrainian authorities stated it had handed out 18,000 machine weapons to civilians in Kyiv.
In the meantime, Russia-allied DPR forces captured two villages east of Mariupol and superior six kilometers (4 miles), seizing seven villages north of Mariupol, whereas LPR forces superior 30 km (20 mi) northwest of Luhansk over the Donets river, seizing two villages. As well as, the LPR was confirmed to have taken management of a city northeast of Luhansk metropolis.
Farther south, preventing continued within the northeast of Melitopol, whereas Russian forces superior north of the town in the direction of Zaporizhzhia. A number of hours later, Russian troops accomplished their management of Melitopol and continued to advance alongside three axes northwest, northeast, and east of Melitopol. To the northeast, Russian troops arrived in Tokmak. Farther east, Russian forces had been advancing in the direction of Mariupol and deployed on the airport in Berdyansk, whereas persevering with to advance in a northeasterly path. Preventing was additionally happening for management of the remaining Ukrainian-held cities south of the Kakhovka Reservoir.
Within the night, Russian forces reportedly attacked the shipbuilding port metropolis of Mykolaiv, with Russian tanks had been shifting by means of the town. The next day, studies would assert that the town was nonetheless beneath Ukrainian authorities management.
Ukraine reported that 198 civilians had been killed and 1,115 injured for the reason that begin of the invasion. Ukrainian authorities later acknowledged that 19 civilians had been killed in the course of the day in Russian shelling in Donetsk province. In the meantime, the DPR reported 11 civilians killed by Ukrainian navy hearth within the earlier ten days throughout the territory it managed. The LPR additionally stated 8 civilians had been killed in its personal territory during the last eight days, all as a result of hearth by Ukrainian troops, together with two prior to now 24 hours.
February 27, 2022
Russian forces pushed into Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest metropolis, with preventing erupting within the streets. Later within the day, they had been pushed out of the town and again to its outskirts. Nonetheless, they had been capable of advance additional east of Kharkiv, by means of the countryside, in an try to hyperlink up with the LPR forces. The LPR itself was reported to have superior 52 km (32 mi) northwest of Luhansk and captured 4 cities, together with one simply south of Starobilsk. Later, forces of the DPR had been additionally reported to have superior one other six kilometers (4 miles), capturing three villages, whereas the LPR superior one other 4 kilometers (2.5 miles).
Again within the north, Russian troops reached the city of Nizhyn, on the way in which from Konotop to Kyiv, and had been making an attempt to enter it. One other Russian navy column was advancing down the Sumy-Kyiv street, even whereas Russian forces had been pushing again into Sumy city itself. Later, Russian automobiles had been attacked at two places alongside the Sumi-Kyiv street, together with close to Pryluky, leading to heavy losses. Russian forces had been additionally probing different routes to Kyiv, advancing southwest of Hostomel Airport, whereas additionally they made advances within the Chernihiv space.
In the meantime, within the south, Russian forces stated that they had “blocked“ Kherson and Berdyansk. They then reportedly took management of a part of Kherson, together with its airport, the place a Ukrainian drone strike reportedly struck Russian automobiles. Russian surface-to-air missile techniques had been additionally seen in Berdyansk. Later, it was reported that Russian forces had seized the southern shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir, in addition to Tokmak and Berdyansk. A US official additionally reported that 2,000 Russian Marines had performed an amphibious touchdown from the Sea of Azov and had been advancing on Mariupol.
Later within the night, preventing continued between Ukrainian authorities and DPR forces 15 km (9 mi) north of Mariupol, with the Ukrainian navy regaining one of many cities it had misplaced to the DPR the day before today. On the similar time, the Russian navy was partaking Ukrainian forces 45 km (28 mi) west of Mariupol.
Within the night, it was confirmed that the city of Kupiansk, within the Kharkiv area, had surrendered to Russian forces.
Ukraine reported that 352 civilians had been killed and 1,684 injured for the reason that begin of the invasion, whereas the DPR reported that 15 civilians had been killed in its territories in the course of the earlier ten days as a result of Ukrainian navy hearth. Russia reported it had hit 1,067 navy services for the reason that begin of its navy operations.
Keep tuned to PolGeoNow for extra updates to this map and timeline as occasions progress!
Revision: We modified the map’s Russian management colours from blue to inexperienced the day after publication, to keep away from confusion with water or any implication that we supposed to precise help for Ukraine by mimicking the colours of its nationwide flag (PolGeoNow stays strictly impartial on this battle as in all others).
Graphic of the Ukrainian flag is within the public area (supply).
