10 maps that explain Ukraine’s turmoil over 500 years

Summary

The video uses maps to trace how Ukraine’s borders and political status have been shaped by competing empires—and argues that this history helps explain the conflict today.

• A divided borderland: In the 16th century, Ukrainian lands were split among powers including the Crimean Khanate, Lithuania, Poland, and Muscovy. The 1569 Union of Lublin brought much of the territory under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• The Dnieper becomes a dividing line: After years of conflict, the 1667 Truce of Andrusovo divided Ukraine between Poland and Russia, with the Dnieper separating the two spheres. Kyiv and the left bank went to Russia; Poland retained the right bank. The video emphasizes that Ukrainian representatives were not parties to the agreement.
• Russian and Habsburg rule: Following the late-18th-century partitions of the Commonwealth, most Ukrainian territory came under the Russian Empire, while western regions came under Habsburg rule. The video contrasts reforms and the earlier abolition of serfdom in Habsburg lands with conditions in the Russian Empire, where serfdom ended in 1861.
• Failed independence amid war: The collapse of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires unleashed several overlapping conflicts between 1917 and 1921. Ukraine’s independence project faced rival armies, rapidly shifting alliances, and limited capacity to control its claimed territory. The Paris Peace Conference did not recognize Ukrainian independence, and Soviet forces eventually took most of central and eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian SSR was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1922.
• Borders redrawn in the Soviet era: From 1939 through the postwar period, western Ukrainian territories, northern Bukovina, parts of Bessarabia, and Transcarpathia were incorporated into Soviet Ukraine. Crimea was transferred from the Russian republic to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. The video notes that Stalin’s 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatars had already drastically altered the peninsula’s population, and that Crimea’s infrastructure and supply networks were closely connected to Ukraine.
• Independence in 1991: Ukraine voted for independence, with 90.3% support in the referendum, and began establishing its own state institutions and military. Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus then agreed to form the Commonwealth of Independent States as the Soviet Union dissolved.
• The conflict since 2014: The video describes Russia’s seizure and annexation of Crimea in 2014, alongside the takeover of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. It says the fighting disrupted economic and social connections across the country.
• The full-scale invasion: Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The video says Moscow has sought control of the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, while Russian advances and Ukrainian resistance continue to shift the front lines. It highlights fighting near Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, Russian efforts to establish a buffer zone near the Belgorod border, and the strategic risk to Kharkiv. It also reports that Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and supply routes connected to Crimea have contributed to fuel and supply problems.
• A continuing struggle over borders: The video cites an Institute for the Study of War assessment that, from December 2025 to May 2026, Russian forces gained about 40 square kilometres but lost about 280 square kilometres. It concludes that Ukraine’s borders remain contested, while the country’s history is also one of resistance and efforts to define its own political future.

Presenters or Contributors

The narrator and an interview contributor are not identified by name in the subtitles.