The origins of Putin's 'Nazism' claim in Ukraine

Putin claimed the invasion of Ukraine was to demilitarize and 'denazify' the country

In a 5,000-word historical treatise he wrote himself, President Vladimir Putin claimed the move was meant to restore Russia's historic lands. Many Western historians and global leaders described these narratives as false pretexts for aggression.

The origins of Ukrainian identity are a matter of historical debate.

Prehistoric to present day Ukraine

Recognizing the abundance of information available on the current war between Ukraine and Russia, this video focuses on the history of the region. Encapsulating Ukraine's background, the viewer will gain a better grasp of how the modern state arose from a quilt of different ethnicities, noteworthy conflicts between various groups, and more.

The day Russia invaded Ukraine—an oral history

Experience the slow build-up to the Russian-Ukraine war, to the moment when it was clear Putin intended to invade, to the actual invasion and occupation in this oral history compiled by Politico. Multiple US and Western officials share their perspectives and thoughts on the war, how it's been conducted, and what can happen next.

Ukrainian nationalism rose under imperial repression

In the 19th century, Ukrainian nationalism took shape through cultural revival movements and intellectual circles—even as the Russian Empire banned the Ukrainian language and sought to suppress Ukrainian identity.

Hear how Putin's Soviet childhood shaped his rule

In this podcast, journalist Julia Ioffe traces Putin's worldview to his "dvor"—the rough Soviet courtyards where he learned power, loyalty, and survival. The series shows how these early lessons shape his war in Ukraine.

Modern Ukraine—caught between Europe and Russia

"Ukraine" has been translated by some scholars as meaning "borderlands". Indeed the country lies perfectly between Europe and Russia, while hosting a diverse collection of people of differing languages, cultures, and ethnicities, feeling affinity for those on the other sides of the country's borders. This article explores how this affects the actions and reactions of Ukrainians during the current conflict.

The rise of Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin's rise has been unprecedented. Over the years his actions have taken him from being a spy in East Germany to president of Russia. Learn more about his rise to power and the means by which he achieved it in this brief yet thorough nine-minute video.

NATO condemned Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine

While Ukraine is not a member, NATO responded forcefully to the Russian invasion of the country in 2022. This page from the NATO website offers answers to frequently asked questions about NATO’s response to the invasion, specifically on how NATO is aiding Ukraine.

Ukraine came under Russian imperial rule in the late 18th century

After centuries of division among neighboring powers, most of present-day Ukraine was absorbed into the Russian Empire by the late 1700s, marking the beginning of a long period of imperial control and cultural suppression.

Protests in Ukraine from 2013 to 2014 set the stage for the current conflict.

Note: graphic content.

Language and regional differences are faults lines in Ukraine's conflict.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022

Russia launched a massive multifront assault from Belarus, Russia, and Crimea, aiming to seize Kyiv within days. Instead, Ukrainian forces repelled the advance, halting Moscow's plans for a rapid takeover.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine killed thousands in the years before Russia's full invasion

From 2014 to 2022, fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region killed roughly 14,000 people and left many cities in ruins, setting the stage for Russia's 2022 invasion.

Russian forces seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014

Days after Ukraine's 2014 revolution, unmarked Russian troops occupied key sites in Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula with a predominantly Russian-speaking population that had been part of Ukraine since 1954.

Ukraine's pro-Russian President halted an EU deal in 2013, leading to a mass protest movement

In late 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for a long-negotiated EU association agreement under Russian pressure, signaling a return to Moscow's influence and sparking mass Euromaidan protests across Ukraine.

Ukraine has received over $300B in Western military and financial aid

Although not a member of NATO, Ukraine has received substantial support from Western nations, primarily the United States and the European Union, totaling more than $300B in military, financial, and humanitarian assistance.

Ukraine once had the third-largest nuclear arsenal—and gave them all up by 1996.

Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine's territory

As of February 2026, Russian forces occupy roughly one-fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea and large parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, with front lines largely unchanged for months.

Pro-Russian separatists seized cities in eastern Ukraine in 2014

After Russia's annexation of Crimea, armed pro-Russian separatists seized government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk in April 2014, declared the regions independent, and sparked a prolonged conflict with Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine's reformist candidate survived a poisoning attempt in 2004

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin, which disfigured his face but did not prevent him from winning the rerun election. The attack was widely suspected to involve pro-Russian security forces.

Kyivan Rus laid the cultural foundations for Eastern Europe

From the 9th to the 13th centuries, Kyivan Rus was a powerful East Slavic state centered in Kyiv. It shaped the region's language, religion, and political traditions—forming the shared cultural roots of modern-day Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.

Russia armed and backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine while denying involvement

Throughout the Donbas conflict, Russia covertly supplied weapons, training, and troops to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, even as the Kremlin publicly denied direct involvement in the fighting.

Ukraine's contested Donbas region: a visual explainer

Russia's heavily industrialized eastern Donbas region has been largely controlled by Russian separatists since 2014. Here's everything you need to know on the key strategic region.

Breaking down Europe's reliance on Russian energy (preinvasion)

One side effect of the Russian-Ukraine conflict is how it underscored European dependence on Russian natural gas and oil. This article, published days before the Russian attacks, outlines and illustrated how much gas and oil flows from Russia to Europe and the potential for either side to use sanctions to get what they want.

Many countries remained neutral after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, few nations outside the West imposed sanctions on Moscow. Major powers such as China, India, Brazil, and Turkey remained neutral, underscoring global divisions over how to confront Russian aggression.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine accelerated fractures in the rules-based international order

This piece examines how the Ukraine conflict intensified underlying divisions in the global order—between Western democracies and the Global South, and between rule-of-law norms and great-power politics.

After it was banned from Eurovision, Russia resurrected its Cold War-era version

Russia was barred from the Eurovision Song Contest following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In 2025, President Vladimir Putin announced the revival of Intervision, a similarly structured song contest that the Soviet Union had organized throughout the Cold War.

Tensions between the US and European NATO allies

The Associated Press article discusses US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's assertion in February of 2025 that restoring Ukraine's prewar borders or NATO membership for the country are both unrealistic. This represented a large rift between the United States and its other NATO allies, prompting concern about America’s commitment to the future of the alliance.

Hitler's 1941 invasion of the USSR doomed Nazi Germany

Hitler unleashed Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941, underestimating Soviet resilience, Russian winter, and logistics. His overconfidence—rooted in early victories like France—turned this campaign into a strategic catastrophe, shifting the war’s momentum irreversibly—often cited as his greatest blunder.

Russia's private military force, explained

Not all participants in the Russian/Ukraine war are enlisted or drafted soldiers. Some, like the Wagner Group, are private mercenaries. But their reach extends past Russia and Ukraine's borders. This eight-minute video explores the activities of this shadowy company and how they aid Vladimir Putin in his military endeavors.

Ukraine became independent after the Soviet Union's collapse

Ukraine declared independence on Aug. 24, 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In a national referendum, over 90% of Ukrainians approved independence, establishing a democratic constitution and marking the birth of a modern sovereign state.

Russia annexed Crimea after a disputed 2014 referendum

On March 16, 2014, a disputed referendum in Crimea reported overwhelming support for joining Russia. Moscow annexed the peninsula two days later, a move widely condemned as a violation of international law.

Mapping Russia's historical borders

This interactive map illustrates how the country’s borders have changed over the centuries, dating all the way back to the year 862, when the Varangian king Rurik assumed leadership of Ancient Rus. Scroll down to see how Russia vastly expanded its territory in the 16th and 17th centuries, and skip to 1991 to see which countries gained independence after the fall of the USSR.

Ukraine's Soviet Republic was tightly bound to Moscow's control

Proclaimed in 1917 and absorbed into the USSR in 1922, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was nominally independent yet operated under Moscow's control, with its government and laws directed by the Soviet Communist Party.

Testing assumptions about the war in Ukraine, one year later

Two years ago, policymakers in Washington made multiple predictions about the course of the war between Russia and Ukraine. One year later this site revisited several common assumptions about the war—for example, that Russia would swiftly defeat Ukraine—and asks several experts if they came true, or not. But things can always change.

Russian Roulette offered raw, on-the-ground reporting from Ukraine's 2014 war

VICE News' Russian Roulette series includes more than 100 on-the-ground episodes, filmed in real time during the 2014 conflict in Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk. Reporter Simon Ostrovsky was kidnapped by pro-Russian forces while documenting the war.

Finland and Sweden joined NATO after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

In response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden abandoned decades of military neutrality to join NATO, marking a major shift in Europe's security landscape and expanding the alliance to Russia's borders.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

How organized crime took over post-Soviet Russia

After more than seven decades of Soviet communism, the collapse of the system in the early 1990s opened a path for organized crime to take over the country's newly-privatized industries. As Vladimir Putin centralized power in the subsequent decades, he did not vanquish the mafia, but rather tamed it. This long read explores the subtle, complex ways organized crime flourishes within Putin's state.

Breaking down Western military weapons in Ukraine

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western military aid has helped dictate Ukraine's capability and strategy on the battlefield. From advanced ground-launched missiles to millions of rounds of ammunition, the supplies have been critical for Ukraine but force Western countries to tip-toe around the appearance of direct conflict with Russia. This visual deep-dive breaks down some of the most important military aid to date.

Oil prices spiked when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022

The price of a barrel of Brent crude experienced volatility in the early 2020s. This chart shows price spikes at the beginning of the pandemic and again when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to call Bush after 9/11, and visited the US two months later.

Stalin's policies intentionally caused a devastating famine in Ukraine

The Holodomor of 1932-33 was a human-made famine resulting from Stalin's grain requisition policies, killing an estimated 3 million to 4 million Ukrainians—considered by many to be an act of genocide.

A timeline of Russia-North Korea relations

North Korea and Russia have often had aligned interests, yet their relationship has experienced many highs and lows. Al Jazeera’s explainer outlines the key events defining Russia-North Korea relations. Russia and North Korea were allies during...

In 13 years, Hitler transformed a fringe sect into Germany’s dominant political force

The BBC Radio 4 podcast Nazis: The Road to Power chronicles Hitler’s meteoric rise—from fewer than 100 followers in 1910s Bavaria to absolute control by 1933—highlighting key conspiracies, political deals, brutal street violence, and forgotten figures that paved the way for Nazi tyranny.

The Nazi Party was founded in Germany in 1920 and tried a failed coup in 1923

Founded in Germany in February 1920, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party) attempted its first major power grab in 1923 with the Beer Hall Putsch—a failed coup in Munich that killed about 16 Nazis and four police officers, led to Hitler’s arrest and treason trial, but ultimately elevated his public profile.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has destabilized safety and oversight at Chernobyl

Russian forces cut power and disabled monitoring of the decommissioned nuclear power plant in 2022, endangering operators at Chernobyl. In February 2025, a Russian drone struck the confinement structure—part of broader efforts to pressure Ukraine's energy infrastructure—punching a hole in the containment shell.

The Nazis and Soviets agreed to a non‑aggression pact in 1939

On August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact—a public commitment to not attack each other combined with a secret agreement dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. This pact enabled Germany to invade Poland unopposed from the east and delayed conflict with the USSR until June 1941.

The first year of war in Ukraine, in photos

The Russian/Ukrainian war grows more real in this series of photographs from Associated Press News. Showing the effects of war on soldiers and civilians alike, the photographs turn an unflinching eye on the injuries and fatalities wrought by the conflict, now in its second year after Russia's invasion in 2022.