---
title: The first months of the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists… — Ukraine · tree and pragmatics
description: The first months of the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists were fluid, but Russian forces then started an open invasion in Donbas on 24 August 2014. Who acts: first months, Russian forces. A sentence of Wikipedia's «Ukraine» with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# Ukraine, sentence 198

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From Wikipedia, [«Ukraine»](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine), revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The trees and pragmatics of these pages, Mova's parse of that text, are CC BY-SA 4.0 too.

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The first months of the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists were fluid, but Russian forces then started an open invasion in Donbas on 24 August 2014.

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**Who acts:** first months, Russian forces · **What happens:** back, be, start · **To what, where:** open invasion, Donbas

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This is a sentence of the English Wikipedia article «Ukraine». The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (first months, Russian forces), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. The article's note marks are left out of the parse.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = wikipedia:Ukraine:198
# text = The first months of the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists were fluid, but Russian forces then started an open invasion in Donbas on 24 August 2014.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	conflict	conflict	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
9	Russian	Russian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	backed	back	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	separatists	separatist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	fluid	fluid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	Russian	Russian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	forces	force	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
19	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
20	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	invasion	invasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Donbas	Donbas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	24	24	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	August	August	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
29	2014	2014	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	28	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **back** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | the first months of the conflict with the backed separatists |  |  |  |  | fluid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **start** | past | Russian forces | a open invasion |  | Donbas | then; august |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent invasion=Eventuality |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** the English Wikipedia, «Ukraine», revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, CC BY-SA 4.0. **Tree:** Mova's own parse, CC BY-SA 4.0 as the text is. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the article read in order, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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