2014–15 Russian military intervention in Ukraine

In late February 2014, Russia began to send unmarked troops and military equipment into Ukraine in what has been termed a stealth invasion,  following the February 2014 Ukrainian revolution and Euromaidan movement, including the contentious ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych. Starting with the 2014 Crimean crisis, soldiers of ambiguous affiliation began to take control of strategic positions and infrastructure within the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, which Russia then annexed. London-based military experts and the US State Department said the soldiers were likely Russian special forces (possibly including Spetsnaz commandos) and airborne units, and although Russia initially insisted that Russian forces stationed in the area were not involved, Russian president Vladimir Putin admitted in April that Russian troops had been active in Crimea and said this had laid the ground for the Crimean status referendum.

After the annexation of Crimea, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups, which were taking place in the Donbass area of Ukraine since early March, escalated by mid-April into an armed conflict between the separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR respectively) and the Ukrainian government. As this armed insurgency spread across the Donbass, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over the conflict zone on 17 July near Torez in Donetsk Oblast. In August, Russian military vehicles have openly crossed the border in several locations of Donetsk oblast (including Mariupol), massing over 40,000 army units near the Ukrainian border.

Despite the United States government accusing Russia of supplying the rebels with its military gear and infantry, Russia has distanced itself from such allegations ever since the beginning of the intervention, and has eventually kept denying them. Other accusations coming from closer ties, including videos of Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine, comments made by rebel leaders such as Zakharchenko and statements such as that of the head of the Russian Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers, Valentina Melnikova all pinpoint to the fact that Russian service personnel are fighting in Ukraine.

In the aftermath of heavy defeat of Ukrainian forces in early September, it was evident Russia had sent soldiers and armour across the border, with locals acknowledging the role of Putin and Russian soldiers in effecting a reversal of fortunes, causing Ukrainian offensive to be stifled. The representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the rebel leaders signed the Minsk Protocol, a twelve-point agreement that implemented a ceasefire. On 10 September, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said most of the Russian forces had withdrawn from Ukrainian territory, and that this heightened the chances for a lasting cease-fire in the southeast. On 13 September, however, it was reported Russia had sent a convoy of aid into eastern Ukraine without inspection by Ukraine, stating this convoy was part of the ceasefire agreement. NATO said Russian forces were still operating in Ukraine in unknown numbers, repositioning to bring great pressure on Mariupol.

In November 2014 the Ukrainian military reported "intensive" movement of troops and equipment from Russia into the separatist controlled parts of eastern Ukraine. The Associated Press reported 80 unmarked military vehicles on the move in rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine. Three separate columns were seen, one near the main separatist stronghold of Donetsk and two outside the town of Snizhne. Several of the trucks were seen to be carrying troops. "Separatists have always insisted they are armed with equipment captured from Ukrainian forces, but the sheer scale and quality of their armaments have strained the credibility of that claim." An OSCE Special Monitoring Mission observed convoys of heavy weapons and tanks without insignia. According to an independent assessment provided to The Daily Beast, there were as many as 7,000 Russian troops inside Ukraine in early November 2014, with between 40,000 and 50,000 at the country’s eastern border. OSCE monitors further observed vehicles apparently used to transport soldiers' bodies crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border — in one case a vehicle marked "Cargo 200" - Russia's military code for soldiers killed in action — crossed from Russia into Ukraine on 11 November 2014 and later returned.

Several members of the international community and organizations such as Amnesty International have criticized Russia for its actions in post-revolutionary Ukraine, and condemned Russia, accusing it of breaking international law and violating Ukrainian sovereignty. Ukrainian and western military officials described Russian incursions as a "stealth invasion", and many countries implemented economic sanctions against Russia or Russian individuals or companies, to which Russia responded in kind. The Kremlin has tried to systematically intimidate and silence human rights workers who have raised questions about Russian soldiers' deaths in the conflict.

Background
Ukraine has been seen as a part of the sphere of "privileged interests" by Russia. In regard to Ukraine, Moscow pursues modernized version of Brezhnev Doctrine on "limited sovereignty", that dictates that the sovereignty of Ukraine can not be larger than that of the Warsaw Pact prior to the demise of the Soviet sphere of influence.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union both nations retained very close ties, however conflict began almost immediately. There were several sticking points, most importantly Ukraine's significant nuclear arsenal, which Ukraine in the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances agreed to hand over to Russia on the condition that Russia (and the other signatories) would issue an assurance against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. A second point was the division of the Black Sea Fleet, Ukraine agreed to lease the Sevastopol port so that the Russian Black Sea fleet could continue to occupy it together with Ukraine. Later through the 1990s and 2000s Ukraine and Russia engaged in several gas disputes, which stated as early as 1993. In 2001 Ukraine along with Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova formed a group titled GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, which by Moscow was seen as a direct challenge to the CIS and the Russian dominated trade group established after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow was further irritated by the Orange Revolution of 2004 which saw the Ukrainian populist Viktor Yushchenko installed as president instead of the pro Russian Viktor Yanukovich. Moreover Ukraine also continued to increase its cooperation with NATO, deploying the third largest contingent of troops to Iraq in 2004, as well as dedicating troops to NATO missions such as the ISAF force in Afghanistan and KFOR in Kosovo. Russian peacekeepers participated in Kosovo as well, however Ukraine chose to form the Polish-Ukrainian Peace Force Battalion further spurring Russia. Moreover Ukraine has also voiced its support of Georgia during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Ukraine also continued to supply Georgia with military equipment prior to, through, and after the conflict, stating they would only stop if there was an international arms embargo imposed on Georgia.

A pro Russian president, Viktor Yanukovich, was elected in 2010 and Moscow felt that many ties with Ukraine could be repaired. Prior to this Ukraine did not renew the lease of Sevastopol meaning Russian troops would have to leave Crimea by 2017, however Yanukovich signed a new lease and even expanded allowable troop presence as well as allowing troops to train in the Kerch peninsula. Many in Ukraine viewed the extension as unconstitutional as Ukraine's constitution states that no permanent foreign troops shall be stationed in Ukraine after the Sevastopol treaty expired. Yulia Timoshenko, the main opposition figure of Yanukovich was also jailed on what many considered made up charges, leading to further dissatisfaction with the regime. Finally in 2013 Viktor Yanukovich declined to sign an association agreement with the European Union, a treaty that has been in development for several years and Yanukovich approved of earlier. Yanukovich instead favored closer ties with the Russian Federation.

Marcel H. Van Herpen, director of the Cicero Foundation, finished writing the book, named Putin’s Wars: The Rise of Russia’s New Imperialism, in late 2013. He predicted that "if Ukraine were to opt for deeper integration into the European Union, a Georgia scenario could not be excluded, in which the Kremlin could provoke riots in Eastern Ukraine or the Crimea, where many Russian passport holders live" and the pretext for intervention and partitioning of Ukraine would be the defence of the local "Russians".

Andrey Illarionov, former advisor of Vladimir Putin, said in a speech on 31 May that some technologies of Russo-Georgian War (which was then blamed on Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili), were updated and again being exploited in Ukraine. According to him, since Russian military operation in Crimea began on 20 February 2014, Russian propaganda could not argue that the Russian aggression was the result of Euromaidan. The war in Ukraine did not happen "all of sudden", but was pre-planned and the preparations began as early as 2003. Illarionov later stated that one of the Russian plans envisaged war with Ukraine in 2015 after a presidential election, however Maidan accelerated the confrontation.

Autumn 2013
In the autumn of 2013, the Kremlin warned Ukraine that if the country went ahead with a planned agreement on free trade with the EU, it would face financial catastrophe and possibly the collapse of the state. Sergei Glazyev, adviser to President Vladimir Putin, said that, "Ukrainian authorities make a huge mistake if they think that the Russian reaction will become neutral in a few years from now. This will not happen." Russia had already imposed import restrictions on certain Ukrainian products and Glazyev did not rule out further sanctions if the agreement was signed. Glazyev allowed for the possibility of separatist movements springing up in the Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine. He suggested that if Ukraine signed the agreement, Russia would consider the bilateral treaty that delineates the countries' borders to be void. Russia could no longer guarantee Ukraine's status as a state and could possibly intervene if pro-Russian regions of the country appealed directly to Moscow.

2014
Following months of protests as part of the Euromaidan movement, on 22 February 2014, protesters ousted the government of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych who was elected with 48.95% votes in 2010. The protesters took control of government buildings in the capital city of Kiev, along with the city itself. As Police abandoned their posts across the capital Kiev and the opposition established control over key intersections and the parliament, President Yanukovych fled Kiev for the eastern city of Kharkiv where he has traditionally had more support. After this incident, the Ukrainian parliament voted to restore the 2004 Constitution of Ukraine and remove Yanukovych from power. A vote on the resolution which stated that Yanukovych "is removing himself [from power] because he is not fulfilling his obligations" emerged 328-0 in support. The vote was 10 short of three-quarters of the Parliament members, the requirement of the Constitution of Ukraine for impeachment. Yanukovych stated that the vote was unconstitutional because of this issue,  and refused to resign. Politicians from eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, including Crimea, declared continuing loyalty to Yanukovych.

The next day, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a bill to repeal the 2012 law on minority languages, which protected the status of languages other than Ukrainian, such as the Russian language. This attempt to make Ukrainian the sole state language at all levels, seemingly in an expression of Ukrainian nationalism, alienated many in the vast Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine. A few days later, on 1 March, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov vetoed the bill, effectively stopping its enactment.

In the meantime, on the morning of 27 February, Berkut special police units from Crimea and other regions of Ukraine, which had been technically dissolved on 25 February, seized checkpoints on the Isthmus of Perekop and Chonhar peninsula. According to Ukrainian MP Hennadiy Moskal, former chief of the Crimean police, these Berkut had armored personnel carriers, grenade launchers, assault rifles, machine guns and other weapons. Since then, they have controlled all land traffic between Crimea and continental Ukraine.

2015
In January 2015 an image of a BPM-97 apparently inside Ukraine, in Luhansk, provided further evidence of Russian military vehicles inside Ukraine.

Russian political actions
The 2014 Ukrainian Revolution which resulted in the exile and impeachment of president Yanukovich was viewed by the Russian Federation as a direct threat to their interests.

Russian permanent representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin presented on 4 March a photocopy of a letter signed by Victor Yanukovich on 1 March 2014 asking that Russian president Vladimir Putin use Russian armed forces to "restore the rule of law, peace, order, stability and protection of the population of Ukraine". Both houses of the Russian parliament voted on 1 March to give President Putin the right to use Russian troops in Crimea.

Crimea
Days after Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich fled the capital of Kiev in late February 2014, armed men opposed to the Euromaidan movement began to take control of the Crimean Peninsula. Checkpoints were established by unmarked men with green military-grade uniforms and equipment in the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Simferopol, and the independently-administered port-city of Sevastopol, home to a Russian naval base under the Kharkiv Pact of 2010. The local population and the media referred to these men as "little green men". After the occupation of the Crimean parliament by these unmarked troops, widely believed to be Russian special forces, the Crimean leadership announced it would hold a referendum on secession from Ukraine. This heavily disputed referendum was followed by the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in mid-March. Ukraine and most of the international community refused to recognize the referendum or the annexation. On 15 April, the Ukrainian parliament declared Crimea a territory temporarily occupied by Russia. Since annexing Crimea, the Russian government increased its military presence in region, with Russian president Vladimir Putin saying a Russian military task force would be established there. In December 2014 Ukrainian Border Guard Service announced Russian troops began withdrawing form the areas of Kherson Oblast. Russian troops occupied parts of the Arabat Spit and the islands around the Syvash which are geographically parts of Crimea but are administratively part of Kherson Oblast. One of such villages occupied by Russian troops was Strilkove, Henichesk Raion, located on the Arabat Spit. The village housed an important gas distribution center, Russian forces stated they took over the gas distribution center to prevent terrorist attacks. Despite Russian forces withdrawing from southern Kherson Russian troops continued to occupy the gas distribution center outside Strilkove. The withdrawal from Kherson ends nearly 10 months of Russian occupation of the region. Ukraine's border guards stated the areas that were under Russian occupation will have to be checked for mines prior to them overtaking these positions.

In November, NATO stated it believes Russia was deploying nuclear-capable weapons to Crimea.

Donbass
Unrest against the new government of Ukraine began bubbling up in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine not long after the February 2014 revolution. In early March, government buildings in Donetsk were temporarily occupied, and clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters broke out in the streets of the city. In April, the city of Sloviansk in northern Donetsk Oblast was abruptly seized by anti-government rebels. The insurgency spread, and within weeks, the Donetsk People's Republic and later the Lugansk People's Republic in neighboring Lugansk Oblast were declared. The self-proclaimed "people's republics" are not recognized by any state and are considered terrorist groups by the Ukrainian government, although they have received Russian backing. The SBU claims key commanders of the rebel movement during this time, including Igor Strelkov and Igor Bezler are Russian agents.

A significant number of Russian citizens, many veterans or ultranationalists, are currently involved in the ongoing armed conflict, a fact acknowledged by separatist leaders. Carol Saivets, Russian specialist for the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology described the role of Russian soldiers as 'almost certainly' proceeding with the blessing and backing of the Russian state, "even if the Russians are indeed volunteers rather than serving military men". Recruitment for the Donbass insurgents was performed openly in Russian cities using private or voyenkomat facilities, as was confirmed by a number of Russian media.

In an interview with French television channel TF1 and Radio Europe1, Russian president Vladimir Putin said: "There are no armed forces, no 'Russian instructors' in Ukraine—and there never were any."

The well-organised and well-armed pro-Russian militants have been described by Ukrainian media as resembling those which occupied regions of Crimea during the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. The former deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Admiral Ihor Kabanenko, claims the militants are Russian military reconnaissance and sabotage units. Arsen Avakov stated the militants in Krasnyi Lyman used Russian-made AK-100 series assault rifles fitted with grenade launchers, and that such weapons are only in issue in the Russian Federation. "The Government of Ukraine is considering the facts of today as a manifestation of external aggression by Russia," said Avakov. Militants in Sloviansk arrived in military lorries without license plates.

A US State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, says there is a "broad unity in the international community about the connection between Russia and some of the armed militants in eastern Ukraine". The Ukrainian government released photos of soldiers in eastern Ukraine, which the US State Department says show that some of the fighters are Russian special forces. US Secretary of State John Kerry said the militants "were equipped with specialized Russian weapons and the same uniforms as those worn by the Russian forces that invaded Crimea." The US ambassador to the United Nations said the attacks in Sloviansk were "professional," "coordinated," and that there was 'nothing grass-roots seeming about it'. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, stated, "I don't think denials of Russian involvement have a shred of credibility, [...] The forces involved are well armed, well trained, well equipped, well co-ordinated, behaving in exactly the same way as what turned out to be Russian forces behaved in Crimea." The commander of NATO operations in Europe, Philip M. Breedlove, assessed that soldiers appeared to be highly trained and not a spontaneously formed local militia, and that "what is happening in eastern Ukraine is a military operation that is well planned and organized and we assess that it is being carried out at the direction of Russia."

A Russian opposition politician, Ilya Ponomarev, said "I am absolutely confident that in the eastern regions of Ukraine there are Russian troops in very small amounts. And it's not regular soldiers, but likely representatives of special forces and military intelligence." Later in July, after shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, he said that "Putin now understands that he has passed weapons to the wrong people". He also said that even if Moscow does not supply more weapons to the Donbass insurgents, there would still be enough supporters of the insurgency in the Russian military to continue such shipments unofficially.

Klaus Zillikens, head of the OSCE mission in Donetsk, said that the mission has detected signs of "foreign agents" operating in Ukraine, but thus far there is no evidence to confirm that. According to Georgij Alafuzoff, the Director of Intelligence at the European Union Military Staff, even if there is a Russian military presence in Ukraine, it is not as large as it was in Crimea. He suggests the militants are mostly local citizens, disappointed by the situation in the country. Nick Paton Walsh, reporting from Donetsk for CNN, stated that the physical appearance of the militants is different from that of the unidentified troops, spotted throughout Crimea while it was in the process of secession.

David Patrikarakos, a correspondent for the New Statesman said the following: "While at the other protests/occupations there were armed men and lots of ordinary people, here it almost universally armed and masked men in full military dress. Automatic weapons are everywhere. Clearly a professional military is here. There's the usual smattering of local militia with bats and sticks but also a military presence. Of that there is no doubt." Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former American National Security Advisor, said that the events in the Donbass were similar to events in Crimea, which led to its annexation by Russia, and noted that Russia acted similarly.

The New York Times journalists interviewed Sloviansk militants and found no clear link of Russian support: "There was no clear Russian link in the 12th Company’s arsenal, but it was not possible to confirm the rebels’ descriptions of the sources of their money and equipment." Commenting on the presence of the Vostok Battalion within insurgent ranks, Denis Pushilin said on 30 May, "It's simply that there were no volunteers [from Russia] before, and now they have begun to arrive – and not only from Russia." Stephen Ennis wrote in his BBC news blog that, on the Ukrainian state television talk-show Shuster Live on 13 June 2014, the British journalist Mark Franchetti, who had just spent weeks with the Vostok Battalion, described the Battalion as largely untrained locals from eastern Ukraine, with a smattering of Russian volunteers. He also stated that the fighters in the Battalion who were now in the Donbass were "mainly normal, ordinary citizens who are absolutely convinced they are defending their homes – as they put it – against fascism". Franchetti stressed that he was not saying that there were no Russian troops operating in Ukraine, but that he did not come across any himself. He stated "I can only speak about what I saw with my own eyes".

In a meeting held on 7 July in Donetsk city, Russian politician Sergey Kurginyan held a press conference with representatives of Donbass People's Militia, including Pavel Gubarev, and said that Russia did provide significant military support for the separatists. During a discussion among the participants, Gubarev complained that the arms that had been sent was old, and not fully functional. In response, Kurginyan listed specific items, including 12,000 automatic rifles, grenade launchers, 2S9 Nona self-propelled mortars, two BMPs, and three tanks, that he knew had been supplied to the separatists by Russia. He also said he saw new, fully functional weapons unloaded at locations in Donbass which he would not "disclose as we are filmed by cameras". Kurginyan admitted that Russia had initially sent "4th category weapons", but since 3 June had supplied equipment that was fully functional. He also said one of his goals whilst in Donetsk was to ensure that military support from Russia was increased.

An An-26 military cargo plane was shot down over the Ukrainian village of Davydo Myilske near the Russian border on 14 July. It had been flying at an altitude of 6,500 metres. The head of Ukraine's Security Service Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, stated on 15 July that the SBU had "indisputable" evidence of Russian involvement in the attack. On 24 July, a week after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists, most likely by pro-Russian forces, the American government stated that it had evidence that the Russian military was firing on Ukrainian territory from across the border. A spokesman for the US Department of Defence stated that there was "no question" as to Russia's involvement in the attacks on Ukrainian Armed Forces. On 28 July it published satellite photos showing heavy artillery shelling Ukrainian positions from Russian territory.

In a battle at Donetsk airport more than 50% of the people killed were Russian citizens and were delivered back to Russia.A report for the independent news site Novaya Gazeta, reprinted in The Guardian, tracked down the widow of one Russian man who died during the fighting at Donetsk airport, and sought to shed light onto the obscure structures that organised the transfer of fighters to Ukraine. The report further highlighted the 'frustration of dealing with Russian officialdom apparently so keen to cover up all traces of those fighting across the border'.



Alexander Zakharchenko, said 1200 fighters trained in Russia for four months, crossed and are ready to fight. Zakharchenko said the reinforcements included 30 tanks and 120 armoured vehicles. He later denied making the comments.

A convoy of military vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, with official Russian military plates crossed into Ukraine near the insurgent-controlled Izvaryne border crossing on 14 August. The Ukrainian government later said that they destroyed most of the armoured column with artillery. Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen said this incident was "clear demonstration of continued Russian involvement in the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine". Surprisingly the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking to Russian ministers and Crimean parliamentarians on a visit to Crimea, undertook to do everything he could to end the conflict in Ukraine, saying Russia needed to build calmly and with dignity, not by confrontation and war which isolated it from the rest of the world. The comments came as international sanctions against Russia were being stepped up.

17 August, Ukraine accused Russia of sending more military equipment, including Grad rocket launchers, across the border and on to Nizhny Nagolchyk. Sergei Lavrov persisted in affirming that Russia was not sending any equipment across the border, and pointed out that an OSCE observer mission placed at border crossing points in the region had not identified any unlawful crossings of the border. Yet the OSCE mission that Lavrov pointed to as not having identified any unlawful crossings of the border had no mandate to check the long, unguarded sections of the border where crossings of men and equipment occur frequently.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Valeriy Heletey said on 21 August that the insurgents were using Russian-made weapons that had never been used or bought by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Injured insurgents are usually treated in Russia, with help from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. They are also questioned and registered by the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russian domestic security and intelligence agency. On 18 August Russian minister of defence Sergey Shoigu awarded Suvorov medal to Pskov Paratroopers Division. Russian media highlighted that the medal is awarded exclusively for combat operations and reported that a large number of soldiers from this division died in Ukraine just days before, but their burials were kept in secret.

According to NATO reports, Russian military has been shelling Ukrainian positions across the border since mid-August, and by 22 August, Russian artillery and personnel have crossed the border into Ukraine itself. On 25 August a column of Russian tanks and military vehicles was reported to have crossed into Ukraine in the southeast, near the town of Novoazovsk, and headed towards Ukrainian held Mariupol.

Lindsey Hilsum wrote in the Channel 4 news blog that in early September Ukrainian troops at Dmitrivska came under attack from BM-30 Smerch rockets from Russia. She wrote on 4 September that the word was that Ukrainian troops who have been shelling Luhansk for weeks were retreating west and that Russian soldiers with heavy armour were reported to have come over the border to back up the rebels. Ukrainian troops gave accounts of fighting the Russian army during the Battle of Ilovaisk.

Journalist Tim Judah has wrote in the NYR blog about the scale of the devastation suffered by Ukrainian forces in southeastern Ukraine over the last week of August 2014 that it amounted 'to a catastrophic defeat and will long be remembered by embittered Ukrainians as among the darkest days of their history.' The scale of the destruction achieved in several ambushes revealed  'that those attacking the pro-government forces were highly professional and using very powerful weapons.'  The fighting in Ilovaysk had begun on 7 August when units from three Ukrainian volunteer militias and the police attempted to take it back from rebel control. Then, on 28 August, the rebels were able to launch a major offensive, with help from elsewhere, including Donetsk—though "not Russia," according to Commander Givi, the head of rebel forces there. By 1 September it was all over and the Ukrainians had been decisively defeated. Commander Givi said the ambushed forces were militias not regular soldiers whose numbers had been boosted, 'by foreigners, including Czechs, Hungarians, and "niggers." '

Mick Krever wrote on the CNN blog that on 5 September Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Andrey Kelin had said it was natural pro-Russian separatists "are going to liberate" Mariupol. Ukrainian forces stated that Russian intelligence groups had been spotted in the area. Kelin said 'there might be volunteers over there.' NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen meanwhile said there are several thousand regular Russian forces operating in Ukraine. Lindsey Hilsum reported on the Channel 4 news blog about the total destruction of Luhansk International Airport which was being used as a base by the Ukrainian forces to shell Luhansk, probably because the Russians decided to 'turn the tide ' - the terminal building and everything around was utterly destroyed. Forces from Azerbaijan, Belarus and Tajikistan who were fighting on the side of the rebels allowed themselves to be filmed.

On 13 September it was reported Moscow sent a convoy of trucks delivering aid into Ukraine without Kiev's consent. This convoy was not inspected by Ukraine or accompanied by the ICRC. Top Ukrainian leaders have largely remained silent about the convoys after the ceasefire deal was reached. The aid is part of the 12-point Minsk agreement.

August military intervention
In late August 2014, according to NATO officials, Russia moved self-propelled artillery onto the territory of Ukraine. Russian soldiers were captured in Donetsk Oblast; Russia claimed that they had crossed over by accident. Russia was reported to have shelled Ukrainian territory, and Russian military forces were reported to have entered Ukraine near Novoazovsk. On 24 August 2014, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko referred to the conflict as Ukraine's "Patriotic War of 2014" and a war against "external aggression". The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine labeled the conflict an invasion on 27 August 2014.

On 27 August, two columns of Russian tanks entered Ukrainian territory in support of the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk and engaged Ukrainian border forces, but US officials were reluctant to declare that Russia had begun invading Ukraine. NATO officials have stated that over 1000 Russian troops are operating inside Ukraine, but termed the incident as an incursion rather than an invasion. The Russian government denies these claims. NATO has published satellite photos which are claimed to show the presence of Russian troops within Ukrainian territory. The pro-Russian separatists have admitted that Russian troops are fighting alongside them, stating that this was "no secret", but that the Russian troops were just soldiers who preferred to take their vacations fighting in Ukraine rather than "on the beach". The Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic stated that 3000 to 4000 Russian troops had been fighting in separatist ranks and that most of them had not returned to Russia, having continued to fight in Ukraine.

The 76th Guards Air Assault Division entered Ukrainian territory in August and engaged in a skirmish suffering 80 dead. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that they had destroyed three of the units tanks and seized two armored vehicles. The Russian government denied the skirmish took place. After the denials Vladimir Putin awarded the Division one of Russia's highest awards, the Order of Suvorov for the "successful completion of military missions" and "courage and heroism".

For at least one week prior to the invasion, Russia had been shelling Ukrainian units from across the border, but instances of cross-border shelling from Russia had been reported since mid-July. At the time, Russian government spokesman denied these allegations. On 13 August, members of the Russian Human Rights Commission stated that over 100 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting in Ukraine and inquired why they were there. On 28 August, members of the commission called the presence of Russian troops on Ukrainian soil "an outright invasion". On 28 August 2014, Ukraine ordered national mandatory conscription.

The two Russian tank columns captured the southeastern city of Novoazovsk on the Azov sea, and Russian soldiers began arresting and deporting to unknown locations all Ukrainians who did not have an address registered within the town. Pro-Ukrainian anti-war protests took place in Mariupol which was threatened by Russian troops. The UN Security Council called an emergency meeting in regard to the situation.

Around 29–30 August, Russian tanks destroyed "virtually every house" in Novosvitlivka, according to Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko. On 2 September, after Ukrainian forces agreed to surrender Ilovaisk, they were bombarded by Russian forces while they evacuated through a "green corridor." The assault on the troops who were marked with white flags was variously described as a "massacre." At least 100 were killed.

On 3 September, Ukrainian President Poroshenko said he had reached a permanent ceasefire agreement with Russian President Putin. Russia then denied the ceasefire took place, denying being party to the conflict at all. Ukraine then retracted its previous statement concerning the potential ceasefire.

Also on 3 September OSCE for the first time reported "light and heavy calibre shootings from the east and south-east areas which are also bordering Ukraine". In this report, it is also stated that the OSCE Observer Teams have also seen an increase of military-style dressed men crossing the border in both directions, including ones with LPR and Novorossiya symbols and flags, and wounded being transported back to Russia

November escalation
On 7 November, NATO officials confirmed the continued invasion of Ukraine, with 32 Russian tanks, 16 howitzer cannons and 30 trucks of troops entering the country. On 12 November NATO reiterated the prevalence of Russian troops; US general Philip Breedlove said "Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defence systems and Russian combat troops" were sighted. The Lithuanian Mission to the United Nations denounced Russia's 'undeclared war' on Ukraine. Journalist Menahem Kahana took a picture showing a 1RL232 "Leopard" battlefield surveillance radar system in Torez, east of Donetsk; and Dutch freelance journalist Stefan Huijboom took pictures which showed the 1RL232 traveling with the 1RL239 "Lynx" radar system.

Allegations of Russian involvement
At the beginning of the insurgency, the prime ministers of Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk were Russian citizens; they were succeeded by Ukrainian citizens by August. Many of the separatist fighters are Russian citizens, with many claimed to be former military personnel. The SBU claims key commanders of the rebel movement during this time, including Igor Strelkov and Igor Bezler, are Russian agents. American and Ukrainian officials said they had evidence of Russian interference in Ukraine, including intercepted communications between Russian officials and Donbass insurgents. Separatist leaders like Alexei Moskovoy visited Moscow and were evasive about who was supplying their weapons. There is also evidence that indicates the Buk missile system, widely believed to have been used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on 17 July, came from Russia. In late August, NATO released satellite images which it said showed evidence of Russian operations inside Ukraine with sophisticated weaponry, and after the setbacks of Ukrainian forces by early September, it was evident Russia had sent soldiers and armour across the border and locals acknowledged the role of Putin and Russian soldiers in effecting a reversal of fortunes.

Status of Russian soldiers
While Russia officially denies organized presence of their military units in Ukraine, there is a large amount of circumstantial evidence that suggests the opposite. Center for Eurasian Strategic Intelligence has estimated, based on "official statements and interrogation records of captured military men from these units, satellite surveillance data" as well as verified announcements from relatives and profiles in social networks, that over 30 Russian military units are taking part in the conflict in Ukraine. In total, there was over 8 thousand soldiers fighting there at different moments.

In November 2014 Igor Girkin gave a long interview to the extreme right-wing nationalist newspaper "Zavtra" ("Tomorrow") where for the first time he released details about the beginning of the conflict in Donbass. According to Girkin, he was the one who "pulled the trigger of war" and it was necessary because acquisition of Crimea alone by Russia "did not make sense" and Crimea as part of the Novorossiya "would make the jewel in the crown of the Russian Empire". Girkin had been directed to Donbass by Sergey Aksyonov and he entered Ukraine with a group of 52 officers in April, initially taking Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and then other cities. Girkin also talked about the situation in August, when separatist forces were close to defeat and only a prompt intervention of Russian "leavers" (ironic term for "soldiers on leave") saved them. Their forces took command in the siege of Mariupol as well.

The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament and Russian state television channels acknowledged that Russian soldiers entered Ukraine, but have referred to them as "volunteers". A reporter for Novaya Gazeta, an opposition newspaper in Russia, stated that the Russian military leadership paid soldiers to resign their commissions and fight in Ukraine in the early summer of 2014, and then began ordering soldiers into Ukraine. This reporter said to have knowledge of at least one case when soldiers who refused were threatened with prosecution. Russian opposition MP Lev Shlosberg made similar claims, although he said combatants from his country are "regular Russian troops", disguised as units of DPR and LPR. Shlosberg's newspaper also released transcript of phone conversations between Russian soldiers being treated in a Pskov hospital for wounds received while fighting in Ukraine. The soldiers reveal that they were sent to the war, but told by their officers that they were going on "an exercise". Despite denials that Russian soldiers are not being ordered to fight in Ukraine, in August Vladimir Putin awarded the Order of Suvorov, an award given for combat against a foreign enemy, to the 76th Guards Air Assault Division, a Russian military paratrooper unit, for "successful completion of military missions". At the time, Ukrainian officials reported that fighting between the 76th Guards and Ukrainian military had taken place but Kremlin dismissed these reports.

In response to internal criticism of the Russian government's policy of not officially recognizing Russian soldiers in Ukraine as fulfilling military service and leaving their families without any source of income if they are killed, president Vladimir Putin signed a new law in October entitling their families to a monthly compensation. Two new entitlement categories were added: "missing in action" and "declared dead" (as of 1 January 2016).

On 26 August 2014, a mixed column composed of at least 3 T-72B1s and a lone T-72BM was identified on a video from Sverdlovsk, Ukraine by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The significance of this sighting was that Russia attempted to maintain plausible deniability over the issue of supplying tanks and other arms to the separatists. Russia continuously claimed that any tanks operated by the separatists must have been captured from Ukraine's own army. The T-72BM is in service with the Russian Army in large numbers. This modernized T-72 is not known to have been exported to nor operated by any other country. Reuters found other tanks of this type near Horbatenko in October. In November, the United Kingdom's embassy in Ukraine also published an infographic demonstrating specific features of the T-72 tanks used by separatists not present in tanks held by Ukrainian army, ironically addressing it to "help Russia recognize its own tanks".

Alexandr Negrebetskih, a deputy from Russian city of Zlatoust who fights as volunteer on the side of separatists, complained in an interview that "the locals run to Russia, and we have to come here as they are reluctant to defend their land" which results in his detachment being composed of 90% Russians and only 10% locals from Donetsk.

In November Lev Shlosberg published a response from a military attorney's office to questions he asked about the status of Pskov paratroopers killed in Ukraine in August. The office answered that the soldiers died while "fulfilling military service outside of their permanent dislocation units" (Pskov), but any further information on their orders or location of death was withheld as "classified". A political expert Alexey Makarkin compared these answers to those provided by Soviet ministry of defence during Soviet war in Afghanistan when USSR attempted to hide the scale of their casualties at any cost.

Numerous reports of Russian troops and warfare on Ukrainian territory have been also raised in United Nations Security Council meetings. In the 12 November meeting, the representative of the United Kingdom also accused Russia of intentionally constraining OSCE observatory missions' capabilities, pointing out that the observers are only allowed to monitor 2 kilometers of border between Ukraine and Russia, and drones recently deployed to extend their capabilities are being jammed or shot down.

In November, Armament Research Services published a detailed report on arms used by both sides of conflict, documenting a number of "flag items". Among vehicles they documented presence of T-72B Model 1989 and T-72B3 tanks, armoured vehicles of models BTR-82AM, MT-LB 6MA, MT-LBVM, and MT-LBVMK, and an Orlan-10 drone and 1RL239 radar vehicle. Among the ammunition, they documented 9K38 Igla (date of manufacture 2014), ASVK rifle (2012), RPG-18 rocket launchers (2011), 95Ya6 rocket boosters (2009) MRO-A (2008), 9K135 Kornet anti-tank weapons (2007), PPZR Grom (2007), MON-50 (2002), RPO-A (2002), PKP (2001), OG-7 (2001), and VSS rifles (1987). These weapons, mostly manufactured in Russia, were seen in the zone of conflict used by pro-Russian separatists, but never "were in the Ukrainian government inventory prior to the outbreak of hostilities". The report also points to an interesting case of the PPZR Grom MANPADs that are produced in Poland and were never exported to Ukraine. They were however exported to Georgia in 2007 and subsequently captured by Russian army during the Russian-Georgian War 2008.

In December Ukrainian hackers published a large cache of documents coming allegedly from a hacked server of Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MID). The documents originate from various departaments coordinated by MID, like local police, road police, emergency services etc. Among those analyzed by activists there are for example documents describing Russian military casualties arriving on August 25 to hospitals in Rostov area after a battle "10 km northwest of the small village of Prognoi", which matches a battle in Krasnaya Talovka reported on the same date by Ukrainian side.

Cases of Russian soldiers killed and wounded in Ukraine are widely discussed in local Russian media in the republics they originated from. Recruitment for Donbass is performed rather openly via veteran and other paramilitary organisations. Vladimir Yefimov, leader of one of such organisations, explained in details in an interview how the process works in Ural area. The organisation welcomes mostly army veterans, but also policemen, firefighters etc. with military experience. Cost of equipping one volunteer is estimated at around 350'000 roubel (around $6500) plus cost of the volunteer's salary from 60 to 240 thousands roubel per month depending on their experience. At the same time the volunteers are issued a document claiming that their participation is limited to "offering humanitarian help" to avoid Russian mercenary laws. They are travelling to conflict zone without weapons, which they are only being given at the destination. Often, Russian troops have travelled disguised as Red Cross personnel. Igor Trunov, head of Russian Red Cross in Moscow condemned these convoys as they make delivery of real humanitarian help more difficult.

Repatriation of Russian soldiers
The repatriation of Russians killed in action or taken as prisoners of war has become a controversial topic in the media due to the Russian state's denial of involvement in Ukraine. Many families have shown growing concern about the whereabouts of their children as Russian military officials only tell them that they are on "training exercises."

In early September 2014, Russian state owned television channels reported on the funerals of Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine during the War in Donbass, but described them as "volunteers" fighting for the "Russian world". Valentina Matviyenko, a top politician in the ruling United Russia party, also praised "volunteers" fighting in "our fraternal nation", referring to Ukraine.

After a series of military defeats and setbacks for the Donetsk and Lugansk separatists, who united under the banner of "Novorossiya" after a term Russian President Vladimir Putin used to describe southeastern Ukraine, Russia dispatched what it called a "humanitarian convoy" of trucks across the Russo-Ukrainian border in mid-August 2014. Ukraine reacted to the move by calling it a "direct invasion". Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council published a report on number and contents of these convoys, claiming they were arriving almost daily in November (up to 9 convoys on 30 November) and their contents were mainly arms and ammunition. In total, in November there were 1903 trucks crossing the border from Russia to Donbass, 20 buses with soldiers or volunteers, 402 armored personnel carriers, 256 tanks, 138 "Grad" launchers, 42 cannons and howitzers, 35 self-propelled artillery vehicles, 5 "Buk" launchers, 4 "Uragan" launchers, 4 "Buratino" flamethrowers, 6 pontoon bridge trucks, 5 "Taran" radio interception systems, 5 armored recovery vehicles, 3 radiolocation systems, 2 truck cranes, 1 track layer vehicle, 1 radiolocation station, unknown number of "Rtut-BM" electronic warfare systems, 242 fuel tankers and 205 light off-road vehicles and vans.

About the same time, multiple reports indicated separatist militias were receiving reinforcements that allowed them to turn the tables on government forces. Armored columns coming from Russia also pushed into southern Donetsk Oblast and reportedly captured the town of Novoazovsk, clashing with Ukrainian forces and opening a new front in the Donbass conflict.

On 25 August Security Service of Ukraine announced the capture of a group of Russian soldiers from the paratroopers military unit 71211 from Kostroma, who crossed Ukrainian border in the night of 23 August. The soldiers were stopped in Dzerkalne, 20 km from the border. SBU also released their photos and names. The next day Russian Ministry of Defence explained they crossed the border "by accident". There were also reports in Russian media, such as Pskovskaya Guberniya, that Russian paratroopers may have been killed in Ukraine. Journalists traveled to Pskov, the reported burial location of the troops, to investigate. Multiple reporters said they had been attacked or threatened there, and that the attackers erased several camera memory cards. On 31 August Russian media reported that ten Russian paratroopers captured inside Ukraine had returned home following a troop exchange. Ukraine said the soldiers were captured 20 km from the border with Russia and Russia claimed that the soldiers had crossed in Ukraine "by accident". The exchanged 64 Ukrainian troops captured inside Russia were said to have entered Russia to escape the upsurge in fighting. Russia claimed that the Russian troops had mistakenly crossed an unmarked area of the border while on patrol. Ukraine released videos of captured Russian soldiers which challenged Russia's claim that it has nothing to do with the conflict.

On 3 September Sky News team filmed groups of troops near Novoazovsk wearing modern combat gear typical for Russian units and moving on new military vehicles with number plates and other markings removed. Specialists consulted by the journalists identified parts of the equipment (uniform, rifles) as currently used by Russian ground forces and paratroopers. Russian state television for the first time showed the funeral of a soldier killed fighting in east Ukraine. State-controlled TV station Channel One showed the burial of paratrooper Anatoly Travkin in the central Russian city of Kostroma. The broadcaster said Travkin had not told his wife or commanders about his decision to fight alongside pro-Russia rebels battling government forces. "Officially he just went on leave," the news reader said.

Russian officials denies reports that Russian military units are operating in Ukraine (see War in Donbass), claiming instead they had been sent on routine drills close to the border with Ukraine and crossed the border by mistake. On 28 August 2014 Dutch Brigadier-General Nico Tak, head of NATO's crisis management center, said that "over 1,000 Russian troops are now operating inside Ukraine". Different sources estimate numbers of Russian soldiers killed during war in Ukraine between 30 and 3500, the majority killed since August 2014.

On 5 September Sergey Krivenko, a member of Russian President's Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, commented on the growing number of Russian soldiers getting killed in Ukraine saying that "the situation now is very strange, something unusual is going on; it could be described as massive dying of soldiers, which is not typical for time of peace; people from different military units are killed as result of shots, from loss of blood, all these reasons are documented; and the military command explains that it happened during training or provides no explanation at all"

Valentina Melnikova, head of the Russian Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers, has said that the Russian authorities were threatening the relatives of soldiers who had been killed in Ukraine, and forcing them to keep silent about their deaths. The Kremlin has tried to systematically intimidate and silence human rights workers who have raised question about Russian soldiers' deaths in Ukraine, in a war which officially Russia denies being involved in. In mid September, Ksenia Batanova, a senior producer for the news network Dozhd, was assaulted in an attack that fractured her skull. Dozhd is a channel that has covered the Russian involvement in Ukraine, and kept a running tally of soldiers' deaths at this time. Kremlin's pressure on this channel of independent information has intensified during the Ukraine crisis. The BBC reported on the death of a Russian soldier, Konstantin, killed 12 August 2014, who had three weeks previously been at home forty miles from Astrakhan. Telephone calls to his sister in the intervening weeks had spoken of Ukraine. The BBC team investigating this death was stopped and attacked by thugs and its video camera smashed. Russia continues to insist it sends no soldiers into eastern Ukraine. Lev Shlosberg, an MP who was beaten unconscious after investigating the deaths of twelve paratroopers, said, "A great many Russian servicemen have died in Ukraine and their families are outraged but they don't speak out because they are afraid for their lives."

Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia started actively questioning the government's policy of "secret war" after a number of Russian soldiers officially sent for "training" to Rostov area and died there for reasons never officially revealed to the families. These facts were further investigated by non-mainstream media in Russia. Russian Ministry of Defence used the tactics of always denying presence of any Russian soldiers in Ukraine and, when presented with undeniable evidence about specific people, admitting that they might have crossed the border "by mistake", or at that time were "on holiday", or their contracts were cancelled (but actually backdated). Soldier's Mothers also expressed their concern about families of killed soldiers, because if they have weren't officially sent to the war zone, the families will be not receiving social support and veteran's pension.

On 2 October 2014, RBC published The investigation by RBC: Where Russian soldiers in Ukraine are from and listed in it Russian military divisions, soldiers of which are assumed to have been secretly dispatched from Russia to Ukraine and used there.

On 1 March, Roskomnadzor (a Russian federal media oversight agency) blocked access to the pages of 13 "Ukrainian nationalist organizations" to users in Russia on Vkontakte, the most popular social network in Russia and second most popular in Europe (after Facebook). Yury Chaika, the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, ordered Roskomnadzor to effect this block.

On 16 October 2014 the deputy chief of Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the service has released 16 out of 131 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Russian Federation back home to their relatives who petitioned through a hotline.

Training facility
In a press briefing by the Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), Andriy Parubiy stated that militants were trained in a military facility in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. "Near Rostov-on-Don, there is a big military base where terrorists are preparing for deployment into the territory of the Ukrainian state. This is confirmed not only by our intelligence, but also Russian prisoners who were detained, and they testify about this base," Parubiy said. He added that more than a thousand militants are trained by Russian instructors, and then they in small armed groups try to break into the territory of Ukraine. On 21 May, a Russian citizen with military experience was detained trying to enter the country, who upon investigation, was found to have recently trained in the Rostov facility.

According to Russian 'volunteer' insurgent organiser Aleksandr Zhuchkovsky, Rostov-on-Don acts as a staging area for the activity where soldiers live in hotels, rented flats and tent camps.

According to Jen Psaki, the United States Department of State is confident that Russia has sent tanks and rocket launchers from a deployment site in southwest Russia into eastern Ukraine, and NATO satellite imagery has shown that on 10 and 11 June main battle tanks were stationed across the border at Donetsk in a staging area in Rostov-on-Don.

In July 2014, Reuters published a logbook of an 9K38 Igla missile that was signed out of military storage in Moscow for a military base in Rostov-on-Don, and ended up with insurgents in Donbass, where it was eventually taken over by the Ukrainian forces.

After OSCE observers arrived at Gukovo border crossing on 9 August, they reported that there was a stream of multiple groups of people wearing military-style dress crossing the border between Russia and Ukraine, in both directions, some of them clearly identifying themselves as members of DNR militia. They also observed several ambulance evacuations of wounded supporters of the DPR and LPR.

Ukrainian response
Interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov accused Russia of "provoking a conflict" by backing the seizure of the Crimean parliament building and other government offices on the Crimean peninsula. He compared Russia's military actions to the 2008 Russia–Georgia war, when Russian troops occupied parts of the Republic of Georgia and the breakaway enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were established under the control of Russian-backed administrations. He called on Putin to withdraw Russian troops from Crimea and stated that Ukraine will "preserve its territory" and "defend its independence". On 1 March, he warned, "Military intervention would be the beginning of war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia."

On 1 March, Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov placed the Armed Forces of Ukraine on full alert and combat readiness.

US and NATO military response
On 4 March 2014, the United States pledged $1 billion in aid to Ukraine.

Russia's actions increased tensions in nearby countries historically within its sphere of influence, particularly the Baltic and Moldova; all have large Russian-speaking populations, and Russian troops are stationed in the breakaway Moldovan territory of Transnistria. Some devoted resources to increasing defensive capabilities, and many requested increased support from the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which they had joined in recent years. The conflict "reinvigorated" NATO, which had been created to face the Soviet Union, but had devoted more resources to "expeditionary missions" in recent years.

NATO increasingly saw Russia as an adversary, though officials hoped this would be temporary. Initial deployments in March and early April were restricted to increased air force monitoring and training in the Baltics and Poland, and single ships in the Black Sea. On 16 April, officials announced the deployment of ships to the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas, and increasing exercises in "Eastern Europe". The measures were apparently limited so as not to appear aggressive. Leaders emphasized that the conflict was not a new Cold War but some analysts disagreed. Others supported applying George F. Kennan's concept of containment to possible Russian expansion. Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said, "We are enduring a drift of disengagement in world affairs. As we pull back, Russia is pushing forward. I worry about the new nationalism that Putin has unleashed and understand that many young Russians also embrace these extremist ideas."

Beginning 23 April 600 US troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team held bilateral exercises in Poland and the Baltic. Plans were made for a communications mission to counter Russian propaganda in eastern Ukraine, improve internal Ukrainian military communication, and handle apparent Russian infiltration of the security services.

Georgia intensified its push for entry into NATO; it hoped to gain Membership Action Plan status in September. It also expressed interest in a missile defense system via NATO.

Baltic states
On 5 March the Pentagon announced, independently of NATO, that it would send six fighter jets and a refueling aircraft to augment the four already participating in the Baltic Air Policing mission. The US rotation was due to last through the end of April. The Polish Air Force was scheduled to participate from 1 May through 31 August.
 * Throughout the second half of March, the UK, France, the Czech Republic, and Denmark all offered aircraft to augment the Polish rotation. UK officials announced plans to send six Eurofighter Typhoon. Over the next two weeks, France offered four fighters, and anonymous officials mentioned possible air support for Poland and stationing AWACs in Poland and Romania. The Czech Republic offered to deploy fighter aircraft to interested countries bordering or near Ukraine. Denmark planned to send six F-16 fighters.


 * After some consideration, Germany's Defense Ministry committed to sending six Eurofighters (to reinforce the Portuguese rotation beginning in September ) and leading "minesweeping maneuvers" in the Baltic Sea. A multinational group of four minesweeper ships and a supply ship from the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 left Kiel, Germany on 22 April.


 * Swedish, Lithuanian, and US aircraft took part in exercises over the Baltic in early April. The US was considering establishing a small but "continuous" military force in the Baltic to reassure its allies. NATO and Estonia agreed to base aircraft at the Ämari Air Base, which was reportedly possible due to the increased number of planes offered by allies. The Lithuanian defense ministry reported that the number of Russian planes flying close to the border had increased in January and February.

Black and Mediterranean Seas
An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the USS Truxtun (DDG-103), crossed into the Black Sea on 6 March to participate in long-planned exercises with Bulgaria and Romania. American officials stated that it was part of a routine deployment for exercises with the Bulgarian and Romanian navies. The Truxtun left the Black Sea by 28 March, but some politicians argued that it should return as a show of support. An additional 175 Marines were to be deployed to the Black Sea Rotational Force in Romania, though this was decided in late 2012.

On 10 April, the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook entered the Black Sea to "reassure NATO allies and Black Sea partners of America's commitment to strengthen and improve interoperability while working towards mutual goals in the region", according to a Pentagon spokesman. On 14 April, the ship was repeatedly buzzed by a Su-24 Russian attack aircraft. The Donald Cook left the Black Sea on 28 April, leaving the USS Taylor.

On 30 April, Canada redeployed the HMCS Regina from counter-terrorist operations in the Arabian Sea, likely to join Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, which had itself been reassigned to the eastern Mediterranean in response to events in Ukraine.

Poland and Romania

 * 7 U.S. F-16's were scheduled to participate in a training exercise in Poland. On 6 March, it was announced that 12 fighters and 300 service personnel would go to Poland. The increase was attributed to concerns over Russian activities in Crimea. It was later announced that the detachment from the 555th Fighter Squadron would remain through the end of 2014. Six F-16's were also stationed in Romania with no given departure date.


 * On 10 March, NATO began using Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS airborne radar aircraft to monitor Poland's and Lithuania's border with Kaliningrad. Monitoring also took place in Romania.


 * On 26 March, US and UK defense chiefs agreed to accelerate the development of the NATO missile defence system. Talks were "dominated" by the situation in Ukraine, but officials emphasized that this was not a response to Russian actions.

NATO foreign ministers at a meeting in early April did not rule out stationing troops in countries near Russia, saying that Russia had "gravely breached the trust upon which our cooperation must be based". Poland requested that "two heavy brigades" be stationed on its territory, to mixed responses; NATO considered increased support for Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova.


 * On 17 April, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a deployment of six CF-18 jet fighters to be based in Poland, and 20 additional staff officers to the NATO headquarters. The planes were apparently redirected to Romania, along with at least 220 Canadian personnel.


 * On 24 April, France announced the deployment of four Rafale fighters to Poland's Malbork Airbase as a "defensive posture".

Relations with Russia
According to Stars and Stripes, the Atlas Vision exercise with Russia (planned for July) was cancelled. The Rapid Trident exercise in western Ukraine, scheduled for the same time, was to proceed as planned, as was the naval exercise Sea Breeze.

France suspended most military cooperation with Russia and considered halting the sale of two Mistral-class warships it had been contracted to build. Canada, the UK, and Norway all suspended cooperation to some extent. On 1 April, NATO suspended all military and civilian cooperation with Russia. Russian diplomatic access to NATO headquarters was restricted.

On 8 May, Russia conducted a large-scale military drill simulating a US/NATO nuclear attacks. Analysts considered it to be politically motivated to compete with NATO.

Belarus

 * Ukraine reported that Russian units in Belarus were participating in Russia's military exercises near the Ukrainian border.
 * On 24 March, Viktor Bondarev, commander of the Russian Air Force, announced plans to station 24 Su-27 fighters in Baranovichi by the end of the year.

Sweden and Finland
Adam Taylor wrote in his Washington Post blog that Officials in Sweden and Finland were concerned by apparent Russian intelligence activities. While both Nordic countries were strongly non-aligned (only participating in NATO's Partnership for Peace), and experts considered a Russian attack unlikely, interest in NATO membership increased slightly. Local populations preferred a possible Sweden-Finland alliance, and both countries increased radar- and aircraft-based monitoring of Russian movements. In late April, Sweden announced plans to gradually increase its defense budget by over 10% by 2024, purchase 10 new fighter planes, and equip its fighters with cruise missiles.

Turkey

 * On 7 March, the Turkish Air Force reported it scrambled six F-16 fighter jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew along Turkey's Black Sea coast. It was the second incident of its kind reported that week, with one occurring the day before on 6 March. The Russian plane remained in international airspace. Diplomatic sources revealed that Turkey has warned Russia that if it attacks Ukraine and its Crimean Tatar population, it would blockade Russian ships' passage to the Black Sea.

International diplomatic and economic responses
Several members of the international community have expressed grave concerns over the Russian intervention in Ukraine and criticized Russia for its actions in post-revolutionary Ukraine, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Georgia, Moldova, Turkey, Australia and the European Union as a whole, which condemned Russia, accusing it of breaking international law and violating Ukrainian sovereignty. Many of these countries implemented economic sanctions against Russia or Russian individuals or companies, to which Russia responded in kind. Amnesty International has expressed its belief that Russia is fuelling the conflict. The UN Security Council held a special meeting at the weekend on the crisis. The G7 countries condemned the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty, and urged Russia to withdraw. All G7 leaders are refusing to participate in it due to assumed violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, in contravention of Russia's obligations under the UN Charter and its 1997 basing agreement with Ukraine.

Financial markets
The intervention caused turbulence in financial markets. Many markets around the world fell slightly due to the threat of instability. The Swiss franc climbed to a 2-year high against the dollar and 1-year high against the Euro. The Euro and the US dollar both rose, as did the Australian dollar. The Russian stock market declined by more than 10 percent, whilst the Russian ruble hit all-time lows against the US dollar and the Euro. The Russian central bank hiked interest rates and intervened in the foreign exchange markets to the tune of $12 billion to try to stabilize its currency. Prices for wheat and grain rose, with Ukraine being a major exporter of both crops. In early August 2014, the German DAX was down by 6 percent for the year, and 11 percent since June, over concerns Russia, Germany's biggest trade partner, would retaliate against sanctions.

Reactions to the Russian intervention in Donbass

 * Amnesty International considers the war to be "an international armed conflict" and presented independent satellite photos analysis proving involvement of regular Russian army in the conflict. It accuses Ukrainian militia and separatist forces for being responsible for war crimes and has called on all parties, including Russia, to stop violations of the laws of war. Amnesty has expressed its belief that Russia is fuelling the conflict, 'both through direct interference and by supporting the separatists in the East' and called on Russia to 'stop the steady flow of weapons and other support to an insurgent force heavily implicated in gross human rights violations.'
 * NATO – The Russian government's decision to send a truck convoy into Luhansk on 22 August without Ukrainian consent was condemned by NATO and several NATO member states, including the United States. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called it "a blatant breach of Russia's international commitments" and "a further violation of Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia".
 * 🇪🇺 European Union – Leaders warned that Russia faced harsher economic sanctions than the EU had previously imposed if it failed to withdraw troops from Ukraine.
 * 🇺🇦 ukraine – Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Oleksandr Turchynov said "It's a hybrid war that Russia has begun against Ukraine, a war with the participation of the Russian security services and the army."
 * 🇺🇸 united states – US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power commented on the invasion by noting that "At every step, Russia has come before this council to say everything but the truth. It has manipulated, obfuscated and outright lied. Russia has to stop lying and has to stop fuelling this conflict." The United States government said it supported stiffer sanctions as well.

Russian protests


Street protests against the war in Ukraine have arisen in Russia itself. Notable protests first occurred in March and large protests occurred in September when "tens of thousands" protested the war in Ukraine with a peace march in downtown Moscow on Sunday, 21 September 2014, "under heavy police supervision".

Critics of Vladimir Putin also express cautious criticism in the press and social media. Garry Kasparov, a consistent critic of Putin, whom he has called 'a revanchist KGB thug', has written on the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shootdown and called for Western action.

An August 2014 survey by the Levada Center reported that only 13% of those Russians polled would support the Russian government in an open war with Ukraine.

Ukrainian public opinion
A poll of the Ukrainian public, excluding Russian-annexed Crimea, was taken by the International Republican Institute from 12–25 September. 89% of those polled opposed 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. As broken down by region, 78% of those polled from Eastern Ukraine (including Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) opposed said intervention, along with 89% in Southern Ukraine, 93% in Central Ukraine, and 99% in Western Ukraine. As broken down by native language, 79% of Russian speakers and 95% of Ukrainian speakers opposed the intervention. 80% of those polled said the country should remain a unitary country.

International reaction
At the Group of 20 (G-20) summit of world leaders in Brisbane, Australia in November 2014, an incident occurred during private meetings that became quite public. At the private leaders' retreat, held the weekend before the official opening of the summit, Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper told Russian President Vladimir Putin "I guess I'll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you: You need to get out of Ukraine." The incident occurred as Putin approached Harper and a group of G-20 leaders and extended his hand toward Harper. After the event was over, a "spokesman for the Russian delegation said Putin's response was: 'That's impossible because we are not there'."

Other
Arguing that Vladimir Putin has developed a nationalist ideology, based on ethnic and religious grounds, the unique qualities of the Slavic race, and Holy Russia, George Soros has called on the European Union to recognize it is indirectly at war with Russia, to resist Russian aggression, and to support Ukraine.