# Russia launches full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Date: 2022

## The fact

On 24 February 2022 President [Vladimir Putin](/people/vladimir-putin) delivered a televised address announcing a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine. Russian forces crossed from multiple axes the same morning.

## Context

Two days earlier he had recognised the Donetsk and Luhansk proxies. Under the Russian constitution the president is commander-in-chief; the general staff writes the operational plan; regional governors later implemented mobilisation. He did not write the UN Charter. He did not sit in the [Verkhovna Rada](/organizations/verkhovna-rada). Martial law in Ukraine is a neighbouring Ukrainian instrument stored on [Zelenskyy](/people/volodymyr-zelenskyy)’s row.

The president of the Russian Federation is commander-in-chief and can issue decrees, sign statutes the Federal Assembly has passed, and represent the state abroad. He does not write UN General Assembly resolutions, ICC warrants, or European Council conclusions.

## Evidence and sources

President of Russia carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is forced displacement and organised violence: a completed interstate invasion produces civilian flight, siege, and later documented killings. It is not a finding that every later Ukrainian statute was authored in Moscow.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 24 February 2022 presidential address launching a full-scale war against Ukraine, contemporaneously recorded by the Kremlin and by independent wires.

Not established: a unique first-day death coefficient, or that the address repealed Ukrainian statehood as a matter of completed international law.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The general staff executed. Foreign armies and the UN did not issue the order.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Putin announces a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine, not a later speech about Putin announces a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Putin announces a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine on 2022-02-24 is not a licence to treat every later President of Russia communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Putin announces a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He ordered the operation as commander-in-chief. The general staff executed. Foreign armies and the UN did not issue the order. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Vladimir Putin: https://factrail.ai/people/vladimir-putin

## Drivers

- Ukraine war (Crimea–Donbas–2022+): https://factrail.ai/drivers/ukraine-war
- Forced-Displacement Scale: https://factrail.ai/drivers/forced-displacement-scale
- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60505319
- https://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ru-invasion-ukraine-2022