On February 24, 2022, Ukraine and the whole world woke up to news that changed everything. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — one of the largest military assaults since World War II.
And yet, Ukraine did not surrender, responding with resilience and unity that few in the world had anticipated. Ukrainians have been fighting back ever since.
The vocabulary that emerged from these four difficult years shows what millions of Ukrainians have lived through and are still living through today.
Below you’ll find 15 key Ukrainian wartime vocabulary words, each with context, related terms, and audio for pronunciation.
1. Збройні Сили України — The Armed Forces of Ukraine
If you’ve followed news about Ukraine since February 24, 2022, you’ve almost certainly encountered this term.
ЗБРОЙНІ СИЛИ УКРАЇНИ (officially abbreviated as ЗСУ) refers to Ukraine’s military, the trusted institution that has become the backbone of the country’s resistance (СТІЙКІСТЬ).
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have grown into the largest army in Europe, defending over 2,500 kilometers of front line. Their courage and sacrifice are not only protecting Ukraine but the entire European continent, holding a line that matters far beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Discover words, greetings, and expressions for support to the Ukrainian military and their families, with audio to help you practice.
2. Єдність — Unity
ЄДНІСТЬ is one of those words that was prevalent long before Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine but took on a new depth of meaning after February 2022. It captures the sense of collective purpose that defined Ukraine’s response to the war. You’ll find it in speeches, songs, murals, often paired with the noun СИЛА (strength): В ЄДНОСТІ НАША СИЛА (unity is our strength).
3. Незламність — Resilience
It became one of the defining concepts of wartime Ukraine, symbolizing the country’s refusal to surrender in the face of overwhelming pressure from Russia. But the word took on a remarkably concrete form in the winter of 2022–2023, when Ukraine’s energy infrastructure came under massive missile attack.
The government established a nationwide network of warm, powered spaces called ПУНКТИ НЕЗЛАМНОСТІ (Resilience Hubs) where people could charge their phones, warm up, and access basic services during blackouts.
Learn powerful Ukrainian words that capture the spirit of Ukraine today. Listen to their pronunciation, learn their meanings, and explore a quick grammar lesson on the third declension.
4. Волонтерство — Volunteering
Ukraine’s volunteer movement is one of the most remarkable civil society stories of the modern era.
ВОЛОНТЕРСТВО (volunteering) and its related term ВОЛОНТЕРИ (volunteers) describe a phenomenon that mobilized millions of Ukrainians from the first hours of the full-scale invasion — supplying the army, evacuating civilians, supporting internally displaced people, and fundraising abroad. It has become so powerful that even its verb form became prevalent — ВОЛОНТЕРИТИ (to volunteer).
Listen to the interview with Kateryna Oliinyk, a representative of the medical battalion ‘Hospitallers’, discussing the battalion’s history, mission, achievements, and needs.
5. Обстріл — Shelling, Bombardment
This is one of the most frequently used words in Ukrainian wartime news. It refers to artillery shelling, missile strikes, or any form of sustained attack on a location, appearing in headlines almost every single day.
It’s important to remember that for all these years, Russia has been regularly attacking different Ukrainian regions, both close and far from the frontline. Nowhere is truly safe, yet Ukrainians got adjusted to living under fire thanks to their incredible НЕЗЛАМНІСТЬ.
6. Контрнаступ — Counteroffensive
Ukraine’s most celebrated counteroffensive success was in the autumn of 2022, with the liberation of ХЕРСОН (Kherson) — a major regional capital and one of the largest cities to be freed from Russian occupation.
Its liberation became a moment of national joy, with emotional scenes of residents greeting Ukrainian soldiers flooding social media. Ukrainian forces also liberated thousands of square kilometers across the Kharkiv region in a swift and remarkable advance that same autumn.
7. Військовополонені — Prisoners of War
ВІЙСЬКОВОПОЛОНЕНІ is a compound word: ВІЙСЬКО (the military) and ПОЛОНЕНІ (broad term for captured, taken prisoners). The word carries enormous weight in Ukraine, as families wait months or years for news about their loved ones held in Russian captivity.
Estimates suggest that several thousand Ukrainian soldiers are currently being held as prisoners of war in Russia — though the true number is difficult to verify. Conditions in Russian captivity are brutal, with systematic torture, starvation, psychological abuse that stands in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Given this, ОБМІН ПОЛОНЕНИМИ (prisoner exchange) is one of the most emotional events in wartime Ukraine. Every successful exchange brings with it scenes of reunion that move the entire country.
8. Тривога — Anxiety / Alarm
This word has two lives in wartime Ukrainian. As an emotion, it means anxiety or unease — the kind of low-level dread that has become part of everyday psychological life for Ukrainians since 2022. But its most urgent wartime meaning is ПОВІТРЯНА ТРИВОГА (air raid alert) — the signal that sends people to shelters across the country. The phrases оголошено повітряну тривогу (an air raid alert has been declared) and відбій тривоги (all-clear signal) became sentences millions of Ukrainians know by heart.
9. Укриття — Shelter
УКРИТТЯ means a shelter or hiding place — specifically, a place to take cover during an air raid. Its everyday use changed dramatically after 2022.
Finding the nearest shelter became a matter of survival, and Ukrainians quickly learned the locations to hide in their neighborhoods, workplaces, underground parkings, and metro stations.
Related vocabulary you can encounter includes БОМБОСХОВИЩЕ (a more formal term for bomb shelter) and the phrase ІТИ В УКРИТТЯ (to go to the shelter).
In this Ukrainian Lessons Podcast episode, find out which new words emerged or changed their meaning in the Ukrainian language as a result of Russia’s invasion, illustrated with many examples in slow Ukrainian.
10. Електроенергія — Electricity
Russia systematically targets Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and as a result, millions of Ukrainians live on rotation schedules of planned and unplanned power cuts.
ЕЛЕКТРОЕНЕРГІЯ is the formal word for electricity, while everyday speech more often uses СВІТЛО (light) — as in ВИМКНУЛИ СВІТЛО (the power went out, literally “the light was turned off”).
ВІДКЛЮЧЕННЯ means a cut off or disconnection, and БЛЕКАУТ (borrowed directly from English blackout) came to describe the most severe, unplanned outages.
11. Дрон — Drone
ДРОН is a direct borrowing from English and needs little translation. Its role in this war is without historical parallel. You’ll also frequently encounter the more formal term БПЛА (БЕЗПІЛОТНИЙ ЛІТАЛЬНИЙ АПАРАТ — unmanned aerial vehicle).
Drones evolved from relatively marginal military tools into central weapons of modern warfare, used for reconnaissance, precision strikes, attacks on infrastructure, and increasingly for air defense.
Another word worth knowing in this context is ШАХЕД — the name for the Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia to attack Ukrainian cities. Ukrainians often call them МОПЕДИ (mopeds) due to their distinctive low buzzing sound.
Ukraine’s response to this new reality has been remarkable. The country became a world leader in drone innovation and production, developing its own long-range strike drones.
12. ППО — Air Defense
ППО stands for ПРОТИПОВІТРЯНА ОБОРОНА (air defense), and over the past four years, it has become one of the most vital and closely followed concepts in Ukrainian public life.
Every time Russia launches a mass missile or drone attack, air defense systems protect Ukrainian cities and civilians. Intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and Shahed drones before they reach their targets is a matter of life and death.
The constant strain on these systems and Ukraine’s urgent need for more of them have been central to the country’s appeals to international partners throughout the war.
13. Збір — Fundraiser
The term refers to a fundraising campaign, typically to purchase military equipment, medical supplies, or humanitarian aid.
It’s deeply connected to ВОЛОНТЕРСТВО and represents the grassroots finances of Ukraine’s war effort. This is not just the work of large organizations, but of ordinary people, who open campaigns for very specific needs on social media.
By some estimates, Ukrainian civil society has raised the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars through volunteer fundraising since February 2022
In this context, you might also encounter terms like БАНКА (literally jar — a slang term for a fundraising pot) and СКИДАТИ НА ЗБІР (to chip in for a fundraiser), both very colloquial but widely used.
14. Паляниця — Palianytsia
ПАЛЯНИЦЯ is a round, traditional Ukrainian wheat bread, and it became one of the most unexpected vocabulary items of the full-scale war.
In the first days of the invasion, the word was used as a shibboleth: a quick and effective way to detect Russians posing as Ukrainians. The Ukrainian pronunciation (with its stress and the soft, distinctive [lia] sound) is notoriously difficult for foreigners to replicate naturally. Asking someone to say ПАЛЯНИЦЯ became a way of instantly revealing whether they were who they claimed to be.
The word took on powerful symbolic meaning as a resistance symbol (and a popular joke).
Ukraine is famous for its cuisine. This article is about all Ukrainian delicacies!
15. Відбудова — Reconstruction
While much of the wartime vocabulary focuses on destruction and survival, ВІДБУДОВА has become one of the key concepts in discussions about Ukraine’s future.
The word comes from БУДУВАТИ (to build) with the prefix від- suggesting restoration or return. You’ll hear it in the context of destroyed cities but also in broader discussions about economic recovery and national renewal.
Related terms include ВІДНОВЛЕННЯ (recovery, restoration) and БУДІВНИЦТВО (construction).
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Language is one of the most powerful ways to understand what a people are living through, and these 15 concepts are just the beginning.
If you want to keep exploring Ukrainian in the context of the war, Season 6 of the Ukrainian Lessons Podcast is an ideal next step. Recorded during the full-scale war, it captures the language, stories, and realities of wartime Ukraine (in slow Ukrainian narration).
And if this article moved you to do more than learn — we’ve put together a guide on practical ways to help Ukraine, from trusted volunteer organizations to fundraising initiatives.
