On January 1, 2022, Ukraine was recognized internationally as a sovereign state covering 603,628 square kilometers, making it the second-largest country entirely within Europe after Russia. Ukraine shared land borders with seven countries: Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia, with a total border length of 5,637.98 kilometers. The country also possessed extensive coastlines along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

However, Ukraine's territorial integrity had already been significantly compromised. In March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea following a widely disputed referendum held under military occupation. The Crimean Peninsula, covering approximately 26,000 square kilometers, represented a strategic loss for Ukraine, including the important naval port of Sevastopol and prime Black Sea coastal territory. Despite Russia's annexation, the international community continued to recognize Crimea as Ukrainian territory.

Beyond Crimea, eastern Ukraine faced ongoing separatist conflict. Beginning in April 2014, armed Russian mercenaries and pro-Russian separatists seized control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk (Lugansk) regions in the Donbas, establishing the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic. By 2016, Ukraine had lost control of 409.3 kilometers of its border with Russia in these eastern territories. The Minsk Agreements of 2014 and 2015 attempted to resolve this conflict through ceasefires and political reforms, but implementation repeatedly failed.

Thus, as 2022 began, Ukraine legally claimed its full internationally recognized territory of over 600,000 square kilometers but de facto controlled only approximately 84% of it. The unresolved status of Crimea and the ongoing Donbas conflict represented Ukraine's most acute sovereignty challenges, leaving the country vulnerable to further Russian aggression that would materialize just weeks later on February 24, 2022.