The Full-Scale Invasion of 2022 — Aggression, Not a 'Defensive Operation'

What Happened on February 24, 2022?

At 5:00 AM Kyiv time, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from three directions:

• North — from the territory of Belarus toward Kyiv (with the aim of capturing the capital in 3 days)
• East — from the Donbas deeper into Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts
• South — from Crimea toward Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Mariupol

In the first hours:

• Missiles and bombs struck airfields, military bases, and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine
• Russian forces landed paratroopers at the Hostomel airfield near Kyiv — an attempt to seize a bridgehead for rapidly transporting reinforcements
• Kharkiv, Mariupol, Odesa, Sumy, and Chernihiv were attacked — cities far from the Donbas

This was not a “defensive operation in the Donbas” — it was an attack on all of Ukraine with the aim of destroying its statehood.

Debunking Every Justification

”Genocide in the Donbas”

Russia claimed it was conducting an operation to “prevent genocide” of the Russian-speaking population of the Donbas.

Facts:

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on March 16, 2022 ordered Russia to immediately cease military operations, noting that Russia had not provided evidence of “genocide”
• The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (OHCHR) had been operating in the Donbas since 2014 and never once recorded indicators of genocide
• From 2018 to 2021, the number of civilian casualties in the Donbas was steadily declining — from 55 killed in 2018 to 25 in 2021
• The most civilian casualties in the Donbas were caused by Russia itself — including the downing of MH17 (298 killed) and shelling of cities

”NATO Threat”

Debunked in detail in the article on NATO, but briefly:

• Ukraine was not a NATO member and had no clear prospects of joining
• NATO is a defensive alliance that has never attacked Russia
• Russia has nuclear weapons — no state threatens a country with a nuclear arsenal
• The real reason — Putin’s unwillingness to see a democratic Ukraine, which is a living refutation of the claim that Slavic peoples are “incompatible” with democracy

”Denazification”

Debunked in detail in a separate article. Briefly: Ukraine has a Jewish president, and the far right has 2.15% support — less than any major European country.

The Scale of the Tragedy

Human Losses

According to various sources (as of early 2025):

• Civilian casualties (confirmed by the UN): over 11,000 killed, over 22,000 wounded (actual figures are significantly higher)
• Ukrainian military losses: tens of thousands killed
• Russian military losses: according to Western intelligence estimates — over 300,000 killed and wounded
• Refugees: over 6 million Ukrainians have fled abroad, another 5 million are internally displaced

Destruction

• Mariupol — a city of 450,000 destroyed almost entirely. The drama theater bombing (March 9, 2022) — a shelter containing over 1,000 civilians (including children) was bombed, with the word “CHILDREN” visible from satellite
• Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel — mass killings of civilians during occupation (February–March 2022). In Bucha, bodies of hundreds of civilians were found with bound hands and signs of execution
• Kakhovka Dam — blown up on June 6, 2023, causing an environmental catastrophe and the flooding of dozens of settlements
• Energy infrastructure — systematic shelling of power plants, thermal power stations, and transmission lines during the winters of 2022–2023 and 2023–2024

Crimes Against Children

March 17, 2023 — the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for:

• Unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia
• According to Ukraine, over 19,000 children have been deported
• Children were forcibly adopted by Russian families, with their names and citizenship changed
• This qualifies as a war crime and potentially genocide (forced transfer of children from one group to another is an indicator of genocide under the UN Convention)

International Reaction

UN General Assembly

March 2, 2022 — Resolution ES-11/1 “Aggression against Ukraine”:

• 141 countries — voted to condemn the aggression
• 5 countries — against (Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea)
• 35 countries — abstained

The list of countries that supported Russia speaks for itself: dictatorships and international pariahs.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

March 16, 2022 — ordered Russia to immediately cease military operations. Russia ignored the ruling of the UN’s highest judicial body.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

• Arrest warrant for Putin (2023) — the first time a warrant has been issued for the leader of a nuclear state and permanent member of the UN Security Council
• Crimes under investigation: deportation of children, attacks on civilian infrastructure, killing of civilians

Ukraine’s Victory Near Kyiv

One of the most important events of the early phase of the war was the failure of the offensive on Kyiv:

• Russia planned to capture Kyiv in 3 days and install a puppet government
• The Ukrainian Armed Forces, Territorial Defense, and ordinary citizens fought back
• Battle of Hostomel — Ukrainian paratroopers destroyed the vanguard of the Russian airborne assault
• Battle of Kyiv (February–March 2022) — Russia suffered heavy losses
• Early April 2022 — Russia retreated from the Kyiv area, leaving behind the destroyed Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, and hundreds of civilian bodies

The failure of the “blitzkrieg” on Kyiv proves: Ukraine was not going to surrender and is not going to surrender.

What Really Lies Behind the Invasion

An analysis of statements by Putin and his inner circle gives a clear answer about the true motives:

1. Putin (July 12, 2021, essay): “Russians and Ukrainians are one people, a single whole”
2. Putin (February 21, 2022, speech): “Ukraine is not just a neighboring country… it is an inseparable part of our own history”
3. Medvedev (October 2022): “For us, Ukraine is part of Russia”
4. Timofei Sergeytsev (RIA Novosti, April 2022, article “What Russia Should Do with Ukraine”): openly called for the destruction of Ukrainian identity, “de-Ukrainianization,” and the “re-education” of the Ukrainian population

These statements are not about NATO, not about the Donbas, not about “Nazis.” They are about denying the very existence of the Ukrainian nation. The full-scale invasion is an attempt to destroy Ukraine as a state and as an idea.

Conclusion

February 24, 2022 was not a “special military operation” or a “defensive reaction.” It is the largest war in Europe since 1945, launched by one nuclear state against a neighboring democratic country. It is aggression against sovereignty, against international law, against the will of 44 million people.

141 countries of the world recognized this. The International Court of Justice recognized this. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin. History has already delivered its verdict.