If you ask a hundred people when did russia and ukraine war start, you’re gonna get a lot of different answers. Most folks will point to February 24, 2022. That’s the day the world woke up to the sound of cruise missiles hitting Kyiv. It’s the date etched into our collective memory because it felt like the start of something globally catastrophic.
But honestly? If you ask a Ukrainian, they’ll tell you that date is way off.
The reality is much messier. It’s a conflict that didn't just "happen" overnight. It’s been a slow-burn tragedy that technically kicked off nearly a decade earlier. To understand the timeline, you’ve gotta look past the 2022 headlines and back into the winter of 2014.
The Real Beginning: February 2014
Basically, the war didn't start with a bang; it started with a protest. Late 2013 saw the "Euromaidan" demonstrations in Kyiv. People were fed up. The pro-Russian president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych, had ditched a planned trade deal with the European Union. He chose Moscow over Brussels, and the streets didn't take it lightly.
By February 20, 2014, things had turned lethal.
After Yanukovych fled to Russia, the Kremlin didn't just sit on its hands. Within days, unidentified soldiers—dubbed "little green men" because they wore green uniforms without any insignia—began appearing in Crimea. They were Russian special forces, though Vladimir Putin denied it at first. By February 27, 2014, they had seized the Crimean parliament.
- February 20, 2014: Ukraine officially marks this as the start of the temporary occupation of Crimea.
- March 16, 2014: A widely discredited "referendum" was held under military watch to annex Crimea into Russia.
- April 2014: The fire spread to the Donbas. Russian-backed separatists seized government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk.
This was the "forgotten war." For eight years, while the rest of the world mostly moved on, soldiers were dying in trenches in eastern Ukraine. Over 14,000 people were killed before 2022 even arrived. So, when did the war start? For the people in the Donbas, it’s been 2014 for a long, long time.
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The 2022 Escalation: A World on Fire
Then came the morning of February 24, 2022. This is what many call the "full-scale invasion." It wasn't just a border skirmish anymore. Russia launched a multi-pronged attack from the north (Belarus), the east, and the south.
I remember watching the news that morning. It felt surreal. Tanks were rolling toward Kyiv.
Putin called it a "Special Military Operation." He claimed it was about "denazification" and protecting people in the Donbas, but the scale of the attack told a different story. It was an attempt to take the capital and replace the government.
It failed.
The battle for Kyiv ended in a Russian retreat by April 2022, revealing the horrors of Bucha and Irpin. Since then, the war has mutated into a brutal war of attrition. We've seen the fall of Mariupol, the liberation of Kherson, and the grueling, block-by-block fighting in Bakhmut.
Where do we stand in 2026?
It’s now 2026, and the landscape has shifted yet again. We’re nearly four years into the full-scale phase. According to reports from the Council on Foreign Relations and recent 2026 briefings, the front lines have become incredibly stagnant but no less deadly. Russia still occupies roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory.
Recent developments in early 2026 show a new layer of complexity. Nations like France and the UK have been discussing "postwar" security architectures, even as shells continue to fall. There’s a lot of talk about a "Coalition of the Willing" to monitor potential ceasefires using drones and sensors. But a "peace deal" still feels like a ghost—everyone talks about it, but nobody has seen it.
Why the Date Matters
You might think it’s just semantics. Who cares if it started in 2014 or 2022?
Actually, it matters a ton for international law and future reparations. If the war started in 2014, Russia is liable for twelve years of occupation and destruction, not just four. It changes the "who owes what" equation.
Also, the "2022 start" narrative kinda ignores the agency of Ukrainians who were fighting for their democracy long before the world started paying attention. It overlooks the Minsk Agreements (Minsk I and II) from 2014 and 2015, which were supposed to stop the fighting but basically became a giant game of "who’s gonna blink first."
What You Need to Know: A Quick Breakdown
There’s no "simple" answer, but here is how you can categorize the start dates:
- The Legal Start: February 20, 2014. This is when the territorial integrity of Ukraine was first violated by Russian forces in Crimea.
- The Donbas War: April 2014. When the "kinetic" fighting began in eastern Ukraine.
- The Full-Scale Invasion: February 24, 2022. The moment the war became an all-out struggle for national survival.
Honestly, the "start" is a moving target depending on who you talk to. For a diplomat, it might be the day the Budapest Memorandum was effectively shredded. For a mother in Mariupol, it might be the day the first shell hit her apartment building.
Actionable Insights: Navigating the News
In 2026, the information war is just as intense as the one on the ground. If you’re trying to keep up with the facts, here’s what you should do:
- Check the source's timeline: If a news outlet says the war "started in 2022" without mentioning 2014, they’re giving you a surface-level version of the truth. Look for sources that acknowledge the decade-long conflict.
- Follow the "Coalition of the Willing" updates: As of early 2026, this group is the primary driver for post-conflict security. Their meetings in Paris and the involvement (or lack thereof) of the U.S. will tell you where the "end" might actually begin.
- Monitor the UN Damages Commission: Since the war has been going on so long, keep an eye on the legal frameworks being built to track damages. This is where the 2014 vs. 2022 distinction becomes a multi-billion dollar question.
The war didn't start with a single decision. It was a series of escalations, broken promises, and a refusal to acknowledge a nation's right to choose its own path. Whether we count it as four years or twelve, the impact remains the same: a generation of people redefined by a conflict they didn't ask for.
Check for updates from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) or the House of Commons Library for the most granular timelines. They’ve been tracking the daily movements since the very first "little green man" stepped onto Crimean soil.
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To stay informed on the evolving situation, keep a close watch on the official 2026 humanitarian assessments from the EU and the UN. These reports provide the most accurate data on displacement and infrastructure needs as the conflict enters this prolonged phase. Additionally, monitoring the specific terms of the "reparation loans" currently being discussed in the European Parliament will offer a clear view of how the international community plans to hold actors accountable for the destruction documented since 2014.