Ukraine didn’t leave Russia. Both countries are independent states, with their own governments and army.
Ukraine didn’t “leave” Russia; it was a break up
What happened between Ukraine and Russia, they used to be friends and allies, and they are no longer friends and allies. Vice versa, they have an ongoing conflict and for years are trying to negotiate.
The centre of this conflict is Ukraine’s orientation towards the European Union, as opposed to a long-term friendship with Russia. In addition, Ukrainians leaders expressed a desire to join NATO. Then a pro-Russian president was removed in 2013 via a second Ukrainian revolution.
Following that events, Russia took over the Crimean peninsula, which used to be a Russian territory before 1950s, when it was administratively assigned to Ukrainian SSR by the Soviet government, with the view to make the management of the republic easier, as the only land border of Crimea is with Ukraine. The same decree assigned some territories that were managed by Ukraine to Russia.
It made sense at the time as no one was expecting for the Soviet Union to break, but it happened in 1991. Since the borders were realigned, Ukraine kept Crimea as its territory.
When Russian leaders realized that Ukraine may become a NATO member, this was possibly the last straw that pushed them to make the decision to enter an open confrontation and annex Crimea, as opposed to the previous attempts to install a pro-Russian president.
In addition to the takeover of Crimea, Russia also assisted groups in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the East of Ukraine to start their own independence uprisings.
This conflict is still ongoing but it may happen that Russia will win and the “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk will be granted an official independent status, with the prolonged negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, with the assistance of Germany and France, being all but unsuccessful for the Ukrainian side. These territories seem lost for Ukraine as well. Russia started issuing Russian passports to people living in these regions in 2019.
Before Ukraine and Russia were independent countries, both republics were part of the Soviet Union. The USSR was dissolved in 1991 by presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
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