In a Feb. 24 interview with Russian state TV-1, President Vladimir Putin questioned Ukraine’s reserves of valuable minerals. Russia, said Putin, can offer access to significantly larger deposits of rare earth minerals, including in the four regions of Ukraine — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which Russia annexed in 2022.
Putin claimed the four Ukrainian territories “historically” belonged to the Russian Federation and Moscow simply reclaimed them as its own.
That is false.
Putin’s reference to “historic” ownership of Ukrainian territories currently under Russian occupation dates to the Soviet Union or U.S.S.R., a socialist nation composed of “federative republics,” which among others included the Russian Federative Republic and the Ukrainian Federative Republic.
The U.S.S.R. drew the borders of those republics following the Russian 1917 socialist revolution.
All four regions described by Putin were part of the Ukrainian Federative Republic, then the independent state of Ukraine from 1918 until the 2014 Russian invasion. The Russian Federation was established in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and these regions were never part of it.
By clandestinely invading Ukraine in 2014, then waging a full-scale war in 2022, Russia violated numerous international agreements and treaties Moscow ratified recognizing Ukraine’s borders and guaranteeing its territorial integrity.
These agreements include:
The 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration: Affirmed the independence and borders of former Soviet republics.
The 1994 Budapest Memorandum: Russia, along with the U.S. and U.K., pledged to respect Ukraine’s borders. In exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear arsenal, Moscow reaffirmed commitment to respecting sovereignty, independence, and existing borders and pledged not to use force or threaten Ukraine.
The 1997 Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation: Ensured the inviolability of borders.
The 2003 Ukraine-Russia Border Treaty: Delineated the land border.
The 2010 Kharkiv Pact: Extended Russia’s lease of a Navy base in Sevastopol and confirmed the status of Crimea as Ukrainian territory.
By annexing these regions, Russia broke the agreements, violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and defied international law.
Russia’s actions led to global condemnation and sanctions, with the international community refusing to recognize the annexation. Ukraine continues to seek security guarantees in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.
Conclusion: Ukrainian regions that Russia declared as its own in 2022 were never part of the Russian Federation, which was formed in 1991. Russia’s actions violate international law and treaties, and these territories remain part of Ukraine in the eyes of international law.
