A Timeline of Ukraine’s Independence and Russia’s Aggression, 1991–2026

The title of the authentic English text of the resolution the UN General Assembly adopted on March 2, 2022 is “Aggression against Ukraine” (ES-11/1). Martial law, introduced in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, had been extended 20 times as of September 23, 2026. Each row of this timeline is accompanied by the source in which that event’s date is recorded in the body text — UN resolutions, the records of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and Ukrainian presidential decrees and laws. It does not cover the course of the fighting.

The course of the fighting is not included because which city is controlled by whom, and where the front line runs, shifts day by day. Put into a timeline, it would be out of date the day after publication. The developments since 2014 and the full-scale invasion that began on February 24, 2022 are kept as separate sections rather than a single continuous narrative.

Legal assessments are not stated as fact in the article’s own voice. Rather than writing “it is illegal,” we write “the UN General Assembly stated that it is illegal,” and each row is accompanied by the source on which that is based.

From the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution of Ukraine

November 2013 to February 2015

Regarding the March 16, 2014 vote, operative paragraph 5 of UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 declared it to have “no validity” and to be incapable of forming the basis for any alteration of status. Operative paragraph 6 calls on all states and international organizations not to recognize any alteration of status based on that vote. That is why this timeline does not state that “Crimea was annexed by Russia.” The General Assembly is the body making that assessment, not this article. The General Assembly subsequently, in the preamble to Resolution 71/205 (adopted December 19, 2016), condemned Russia’s “temporary occupation” of Crimea and reaffirmed its non-recognition of the annexation.

February 24, 2022 Onward

The Resolutions Use the Word “Aggression,” Not “Invasion”

The title of the authentic English text of Resolution ES-11/1 is “Aggression against Ukraine.” Operative paragraph 2 reads as follows.

Deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine in violation of Article 2 (4) of the Charter;

UN General Assembly Resolution ES-11/1 (A/RES/ES-11/1), operative paragraph 2

The word used is “aggression.” The word “invasion” does not appear anywhere in the body of this resolution. “Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” the phrase this outlet uses elsewhere, is this outlet’s own wording, not a rendering of the resolution’s text. In sentences that quote a resolution, we keep to “aggression.”

That said, it is not as though the General Assembly itself never uses the phrase “full-scale invasion.” The preamble to Resolution ES-11/6, adopted a year later, contains the phrase “one year into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.” Given that the wording itself is not entirely consistent, the safest approach when quoting is to cite the resolution number of the source.

Martial Law Has Been Extended 20 Times

Unlike the course of the fighting, the institutional side can be tracked by date. Presidential Decree No. 64/2022, which introduced martial law, is listed in the legislation database as a document still in force, and its text records the entire history of extensions. As of September 23, 2026, it has been extended 20 times. The first two extensions were for 30 days; every extension from the third onward has been for 90 days.

The extension decrees carry one more piece of readable information. Paragraph 2 of Decree No. 596/2026 instructs the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to notify the UN Secretary-General and foreign authorities that the extension of martial law, and the restrictions on rights and freedoms that accompany it, constitute a derogation from obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Martial law is thus a domestic institution and, at the same time, something notified internationally as a derogation from treaty obligations.

What to Carry Along When Citing Casualty Figures

Civilian casualty figures are a continually updated tally rather than a dated event, so they are not included as a row in the timeline. Here we set out the figures and the conditions that should be carried along whenever they are cited.

According to a fact sheet published in February 2026 by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), the office has verified 15,172 civilian deaths and 41,378 civilian injuries. To cite this figure, four things need to be included in the same sentence: that OHCHR compiled it; that the period covered is February 24, 2022 through January 31, 2026; that it counts only cases independently verified according to the office’s standard methodology, and does not include unverified reports; and that the office itself notes that “the actual extent of civilian casualties is likely considerably higher.” The office writes that this is especially true for the period immediately after the full-scale invasion, when the volume of reports was high and it was unable to access the areas concerned to verify them.

If those conditions are dropped and the text simply reads “15,172 civilians have died,” it reads as a confirmed, final total. Even without that intent on the writer’s part, that is how it will be read.

What This Timeline Does Not Include

There are a number of events not included in this timeline. The EU’s recognition of Ukraine as a candidate country and the start of accession negotiations are not included, because the dates could not be confirmed against primary sources from the European Council and the Official Journal of the European Union. The 2022 agreement on grain exports, the various ceasefire and peace talks from 2023 onward, and individual decisions announced by the Russian side were also dropped, measured against the standard of including only what could be confirmed for date and announcing body against a primary source. Leaving something out does not mean it did not happen. It means that, with this method of construction, it could not be verified.

Whether reading or building a timeline, keep it in a form where you can ask, row by row, “which source’s body text says this.” A timeline is the format where a missing source is least noticeable.