The Russia-Ukraine Conflict in Pictures, One Year After Crimea’s Annexation

KYIV, Ukraine—Monday marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a former Ukrainian territory.

Russia’s takeover of Crimea is an ongoing source of tension between Russia and Ukraine, and a potential flash point for escalating the nearly year-old war in eastern Ukraine. The United States and other NATO countries have labeled Russia’s move to take back the peninsula, which sits at the confluence of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, as illegal, and denounced a referendum voted upon last year to secede from Ukraine as illegitimate.

The Kremlin, however, has pushed back and claims the referendum reflects the will of the Crimean population. Crimea was originally Russian territory, but was ceded to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in a deal by Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev in 1954.

Independent Ukraine retained control of Crimea following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia maintained a naval base, however, in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, which became Russia’s only warm water naval base.

The Daily Signal takes a closer look at the conflict over Crimea in these photos.