Joint Forces Operation (Ukraine)

Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone (Ukrainian: Зона проведення антитерористичної операції, romanized: Zona provedennya antyterorystychnoyi operatsiyi), or ATO zone[1] (Ukrainian: Зона АТО, romanized: Zona ATO), was a term used by the media, public, the government of Ukraine, and the OSCE[2] and other foreign institutions[3] to identify Ukrainian territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (oblasts)[4] under the control of Russian military forces[5][nb 1] and pro-Russian separatists.

[8] On 20 February 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko changed the status of the ATO zone from an anti-terrorist operation to "taking measures to ensure national security and defense, and repulsing and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts".

[citation needed] As such, the ATO was renamed to JFO zone (Joint Forces Operation (Ukrainian: Операція об'єднаних сил, ООС, romanized: Operatsiya ob'yednanykh syl).

[12] The official borders of the ATO zone were defined with a list of localities and their geographical coordinates, approved in November 2014 by Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

[13] The zone is conditionally divided into five sectors A, B, C, D, and M.[14][15] Since 28 December 2015, the song "Brattia Ukraintsi" (Brothers Ukrainians) is the official anthem of ATO.