Policy Backgrounders

1,000 Days of War in Ukraine

November 22, 2024

Key Insights

As the world marked 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, several important developments pointed to both an intensification of the conflict and possibly to its halting. (It is also worth remembering that the war began in 2014 with Russia’s occupation of Crimea and fighting in eastern Ukraine).

• Spurred by the escalation of the war with North Korean troops arriving to fight Ukraine, the President approved a very limited use by Ukraine of US ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles to hit targets in the Russia’s Kursk region; the UK made a similar change. However, NATO Allies such as Germany and France have yet to approve similar permissions.
• Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine, including energy infrastructure, as winter approaches. Ukraine is fighting back hard in the final days of the Biden Administration.
• The G-20 Summit in Rio could not reach agreement on Ukraine. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented a peace plan to freeze the conflict and delay Ukrainian accession to NATO while permitting Ukraine to continue its path towards membership of the EU. Russia rejected the plan but hinted it is open to discussions once the Trump Administration takes office.