Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are areas of Ukraine that are currently controlled by Russia in the course of the Russo-Ukrainian War. In Ukrainian law, they are defined as the "temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine" ().
The occupation started in 2014 following Russia's invasion and annexation of the Crimean peninsula, and its de facto takeover of Ukraine's Donbas during a war in eastern Ukraine. In 2022, Russian forces initiated a full-scale invasion of the nation and successfully occupied more territory throughout the country. However, due to continued fierce Ukrainian resistance, coupled with logistical challenges (e.g. the stalled Russian Kyiv convoy), the Russian Armed Forces announced their withdrawal from Chernihiv, Kyiv, Sumy, and Zhytomyr oblasts in early April.
In early September 2022, Ukrainian forces ended the months-long stalemate on the front lines with a successful counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, inflicting a major defeat on Russian forces by forcing their retreat. Then later in November, Ukrainian forces once again achieved a major success with a southern counteroffensive retaking the city of Kherson on 11 November.
On 30 September 2022, Russia announced the annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, despite only occupying part of the claimed territory. The UN General Assembly responded by passing a resolution rejecting this annexation as illegal and upholding Ukraine's right to territorial integrity.
Before 2022, Russia occupied of Ukrainian territory (Crimea, and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk), and occupied an additional after its full-scale invasion by March 2022, a total of or almost 27% of Ukraine's territory. By 11 November, the Institute for the Study of War calculated that Ukrainian forces had liberated an area of from Russian occupation, leaving Russia with control of about 18% of Ukraine's territory.
Background
With the Euromaidan and Revolution of Dignity since November 2013, popular protests across Ukraine led to the dismissal of pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), as he fled to Russia. The growing pro-European sentiment at the center of this period of upheaval caused unease in the Kremlin, and Russian president Vladimir Putin immediately mobilized Russian army and airborne forces to invade Crimea, and they swiftly took control of major government buildings and blockaded the Ukrainian military in their bases across the peninsula. Soon after, Russian-installed officials announced and carried out a referendum for the region to join Russia, which western and independent organizations labeled as illegitimate. The Kremlin rejected these claims and soon officially annexed Crimea into Russia, with western nations issuing sanctions against Russia in response. In addition, with pro-Russian counter-protests across Eastern and Southern Ukraine in response to the ousting of Yanukovych, Russia allegedly supported Russian and pro-Russian militant separatists in the Donbas region in taking control of major government buildings. These separatists eventually created the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, and have since been at conflict with the now-pro-European Ukrainian government, known as the war in Donbas (Russia announced their "annexation" after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine).
In response to Russian military intervention, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted government laws (with further updates and extensions) to qualify the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as temporarily occupied and uncontrolled territories:
Autonomous Republic of Crimea: Law of Ukraine No. 1207-VII (15 April 2014) "Assurance of Citizens' Rights and Freedom, and Legal Regulations on Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine". Separate Raions of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts: Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1085-р (7 November 2014) "A List of Settlements on Territory Temporarily Uncontrolled by Government Authorities, and a List of Landmarks Located at the Contact Line". Law of Ukraine No. 254-19-VIII (17 March 2015) "On Recognition of Separate Raions, Cities, Towns and Villages in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions as Temporarily Occupied Territories". Petro Poroshenko, one of the opposition leaders during Euromaidan, won a landslide victory in the election to succeed interim president Turchynov, three months after the ousting of Yanukovych.