Thursday, February 24, 2022 at dawn, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a "
special military operation
" against his neighbor, Ukraine.
What's going on ?
Why this conflict?
What is the origin of this war?
Le Figaro
explains the stakes of this conflict which began in 2014 with the revolt of separatist groups supported and financed by Moscow in the Donbass, and the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
To discover
LIVE - Follow minute by minute the evolution of the war in Ukraine
What's happening in Ukraine?
Thursday, February 24 at dawn, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces in a surprise statement on television that a military operation is underway against Ukraine.
Russian troops bombard strategic military positions and then rapidly gain ground.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announces Friday the death of 137 Ukrainians and calls for general military mobilization.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: the map to follow the advance of Russian forces
Read alsoDoes Ukraine have the military capacity to resist the Russian invasion?
What is the origin of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia?
Ukraine, a country of 44 million inhabitants located
between Europe and Russia
, is a former Soviet republic which became independent in 1991. While a large part of the country is rather pro-Western, the eastern part of Ukraine is mostly Russian-speaking and feels close to Moscow.
Read alsoUkraine: understanding the history of “Little Russia” in four maps
In the 2000s, Ukraine considered getting closer to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), created in 1949 with the aim of curbing the expansion of the Soviet Union.
An intolerable prospect for Moscow.
In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea.
The population of the peninsula is in favor of its attachment to Moscow.
Fighting then broke out in the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the Donbass, which proclaimed themselves "people's republics".
Since that date, the Ukrainian army has been fighting these separatists, during a war that has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
Clashes there had greatly diminished since the Minsk agreements in 2015, but violence still erupted regularly.
Kiev and its Western allies have long accused Moscow of providing troops and weapons to pro-Russian separatists.
These accusations were vehemently rejected by the Kremlin.
But for Russia, these separatists are Russians who must be protected by Moscow.
Read also2013-2022: the main dates of the crisis in Ukraine
Why has the situation worsened in recent months?
In April 2021, Russia massed troops on the border with Ukraine, then claimed to have withdrawn them.
The situation escalated in October 2021, when videos showing the movement of Russian troops, tanks and other heavy weapons towards the Ukrainian border circulated on social networks.
On December 1, Russia in turn accuses Ukraine of massing troops in the east of the country.
NATO announced in early February the establishment of standby forces, ships and combat aircraft in Eastern Europe.
Washington also places soldiers on alert.
These announcements made the Kremlin react, which then denounced a "
hysteria
" in Europe.
After refusing a summit with Joe Biden, on the evening of February 21 Vladimir Putin recognizes the independence of the pro-Russian separatist territories in eastern Ukraine.
A new step towards the conflict triggered three days later.
Read also2013-2022: the main dates of the crisis in Ukraine
What does Russia want?
So far, Vladimir Putin accused the West of stoking tensions, with military exercises in the Black Sea and the delivery of modern weapons to Kiev, and warned against crossing "
red lines
".
The negotiations started in December with the West with a view to obtaining "
legal guarantees
" against the extension of NATO to the East were still slipping at the start of 2022. Russia
does not want Kiev to join NATO
that it perceive as a threat.
Read alsoFour maps to understand the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
But Ukraine refuses to give up its
plan to join NATO
and any other “
guarantee
”.
Russia, increasingly demanding, is also calling for the withdrawal of NATO troops from Romania and Bulgaria or the cessation of Western military cooperation with Ukraine.
In an article published in July, Vladimir Putin accused Western countries of cultivating anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine.
Russians and Ukrainians are “
one people
”, he wrote, emphasizing the “
spiritual, human, civilizational ties
” which “
have been woven for centuries
”.
"
And we will never allow our historic territories and the people close to us who live there to be used against Russia
."
In his long indictment on February 21, he explained that the Ukraine had been created by Lenin but that the latter had at the time “
disadvantaged
” his mother country.
He therefore intends to correct the work of his Bolshevik predecessor.
Should we fear a Third World War?
The military operation launched on February 24 aroused indignant reactions from many countries.
For now, only economic sanctions have been taken against Russia by several countries.
A European summit has been convened urgently.
In France, Emmanuel Macron addressed the Nation on Thursday.
“
To this act of war, we will respond without weakness, with cold blood,
declared the president
.
We will make decisions quickly.
The sanctions imposed will be commensurate with the aggression, both militarily and economically.
We will support
Ukraine
without hesitation.
The events of that night are a turning point in the history of Europe.
They will have profound and lasting consequences on our lives, as well as on the geopolitics of the continent.
But we will know how to answer them together
”.
Joe Biden has ruled out the idea of military intervention in Ukraine, but will defend NATO allies.