Vladimir Putin
Full-scale invasion of Ukraine (2022–present)

On 24 February, Putin in a televised address announced a " special military operation " (SMO) in Ukraine, launching a full-scale invasion of the country. Citing a purpose of " denazification ", he claimed to be doing this to protect people in the predominantly Russian-speaking region of Donbas who, according to Putin, faced "humiliation and genocide" from Ukraine for eight years. Minutes after the speech, he launched a war to gain control of the remainder of the country and overthrow the elected government under the pretext that it was run by Nazis.

Russia's invasion was met with international condemnation. International sanctions were widely imposed against Russia, including against Putin personally. The invasion also led to numerous calls for Putin to be pursued with war crime charges. The International Criminal Court (ICC) stated that it would investigate the possibility of war crimes in Ukraine since late 2013, and the United States pledged to help the ICC to prosecute Putin and others for war crimes committed during the invasion of Ukraine. In response to these condemnations, Putin put the Strategic Rocket Forces 's nuclear deterrence units on high alert. By early March, U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Putin was "frustrated" by slow progress due to an unexpectedly strong Ukrainian defense.

On 4 March, Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, leading to some media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine. On 7 March, as a condition for ending the invasion, the Kremlin demanded Ukraine's neutrality, recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, and recognition of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states. On 8 March Putin promised that no conscripts would be used in the SMO. On 16 March, Putin issued a warning to Russian "traitors" who he said the West wanted to use as a " fifth column " to destroy Russia. Following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia's long-term demographic crisis deepened due to emigration, lower fertility rates and war-related casualties.

As early as 25 March, the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights reported that Putin ordered a "kidnapping" policy, whereby Ukrainian nationals who did not cooperate with the Russian takeover of their homeland were victimized by FSB agents. On 28 March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was "99.9 percent sure" that Putin thought the Ukrainians would welcome the invading forces with "flowers and smiles" while he opened the door to negotiations on the offer that Ukraine would henceforth be a non-aligned state.

On 21 September, Putin announced a partial mobilization, following a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kharkiv and the announcement of annexation referendums in Russian- occupied Ukraine.

On 30 September, Putin signed decrees which annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts of Ukraine into the Russian Federation. The annexations are not recognized by the international community and are illegal under international law. On 11 November the same year, Ukraine liberated Kherson.

In December 2022, he said that a war against Ukraine could be a "long process" Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War since February 2022. In January 2023, Putin cited recognition of Russia's sovereignty over the annexed territories as a condition for peace talks with Ukraine.

On 20–22 March 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Russia and met with Vladimir Putin both in official and unofficial capacity. It was the first international meeting of Vladimir Putin since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

In May 2023, South Africa announced that it would grant diplomatic immunity to Vladimir Putin to attend the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg despite the ICC arrest warrant. In July 2023, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Putin would not attend the summit "by mutual agreement" and would instead send Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In July 2023, Putin threatened to take "reciprocal action" if Ukraine used US-supplied cluster munitions during a Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russian forces in occupied southeastern Ukraine. On 17 July 2023, Putin withdrew from a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain across the Black Sea despite a wartime blockade, risking deepening the global food crisis and antagonizing neutral countries in the Global South.

On 27–28 July, Putin hosted the 2023 Russia–Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, which was attended by delegations from more than 40 African countries. As of August 2023, the total number of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers killed or wounded during the Russian invasion of Ukraine was nearly 500,000.

Putin condemned the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the Israel–Hamas war and said Israel had a right to defend itself, but also criticized Israel's response and said Israel should not besiege the Gaza Strip in the way Nazi Germany besieged Leningrad. Putin suggested that Russia could be a mediator in the conflict. Putin blamed the war on the United States' failed foreign policy in the Middle East and expressed concern over the suffering of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip. In a December 2023 call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Putin, Netanyahu expressed displeasure over Russia's conduct at the United Nations and described its growing ties to Iran as dangerous.

On 22 November 2023, Putin claimed that Russia was always "ready for talks" to end the "tragedy" of the war in Ukraine, and accused the Ukrainian leadership of rejecting peace talks with Russia. However, on 14 December 2023, Putin said, "there will only be peace in Ukraine when we achieve our aims", which he said are "de-Nazification, de-militarization and a neutral status" of Ukraine. On 23 December 2023, The New York Times reported that Putin has been signaling through intermediaries since at least September 2022 that "he is open to a ceasefire that freezes the fighting along the current lines".
language:response_language[French]