title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 7 February 2019, the Ukrainian parliament voted with a majority of 334 out of 385 to change the Ukrainian constitution to help Ukraine to join NATO and the European Union. After the vote, Poroshenko declared: "This is the day when the movement of Ukraine to the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance will be consolidated in the Constitution as a foreign political landmark."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was inaugurated on 20 May 2019. On 12 June 2020, Ukraine joined NATO's enhanced opportunity partner interoperability program. According to an official NATO statement, the new status "does not prejudge any decisions on NATO membership."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 14 September 2020, Zelenskyy approved Ukraine's new National Security Strategy, "which provides for the development of the distinctive partnership with NATO with the aim of membership in NATO." On 8 October 2020, during a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine needed a NATO MAP, as NATO membership will contribute to Ukraine's security and defense.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 1 December 2020, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran stated that Ukraine clearly outlines its ambitions to obtain the NATO MAP and hopes for comprehensive political and military support for such a decision at the next Alliance Summit in 2021. Addressing the ambassadors and military attaches of NATO member states, as well as representatives of the NATO office in Ukraine, they were urged to inform their capitals that Ukraine would hope for their full politico-military support in reaching such a decision at the next NATO Summit in 2021. This should be a practical step and a demonstration of commitment to the 2008 Bucharest Summit.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: At the end of November 2020, it became known that the NATO Summit in 2021 would consider the issue of returning to an "open door policy", including the issue of providing Georgia with a MAP. On 9 February 2021, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, stated that he hoped that Ukraine would be able to receive an action plan for NATO membership at the same time as Georgia. In response, the NATO Secretary-General confirmed during Shmyhal's visit to Brussels that Ukraine is a candidate for NATO membership.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 7 April 2021, after the start of the build-up of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told a press conference with his Spanish counterpart Arancha González Laya that Lithuania intends to ask its NATO allies to provide Ukraine with a MAP:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: For her part, the Spanish Foreign Minister, despite the fact that Ukraine is not a member of the Alliance, said that the Allies' relations with it are already "fruitful, useful and are a symbol of NATO's vision of a peaceful neighborhood." She also added that the issue of Ukraine should be discussed at the summit of the North Atlantic Alliance, which is scheduled for June this year. Following in the footsteps of his Lithuanian counterpart, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said on 7 April that NATO should provide Ukraine with a MAP:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: At the same April meeting, Stoltenberg said that "NATO firmly supports sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 10 April 2021, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran stated that the top priority of the Ukrainian political leadership is to obtain the Action Plan for Membership (MAP) in the North Atlantic Alliance in 2021. According to the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the most convincing and effective mechanism for communicating the position of the international community to Moscow is "accelerating the implementation of the decision of the 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit on our membership in the Alliance." Also receiving the MAP for Ukraine was supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a joint declaration of the Ninth High-Level Strategic Council between Ukraine and the Republic of Turkey.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: At a briefing in Kyiv in May 2021, Democrat Senator Chris Murphy said at a briefing in Kyiv following a meeting with Zelenskyy that granting Ukraine a MAP would be the next logical step toward NATO membership. He stressed that Ukraine has already made several reforms necessary to become a member of NATO, as well as to carry out additional reforms. He also noted that if Ukraine and Georgia had received the MAP in 2008, there would have been no conflict with Russia at all: Murphy stated:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 2 June, Zelenskyy called one of the potential threats that could strengthen Russia's position in Europe: the failure to give Ukraine a clear signal and specific deadlines for obtaining an MAP for NATO membership.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: At the June 2021 Brussels summit, NATO leaders reiterated the decision taken at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance with the NATO MAP as an integral part of the process and Ukraine's right to determine its own future and foreign policy course without outside interference. Secretary-General Stoltenberg also stressed that Russia will not be able to veto Ukraine's accession to NATO, as we will not return to the era of spheres of interest, when large countries decide what smaller ones should do:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 28 June 2021, Ukraine and NATO forces launched joint naval drills in the Black Sea codenamed "Sea Breeze 2021". Russia had condemned the drills, with the Russian Defence Ministry saying it would closely monitor them.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 28 November Ukraine warned that Russia had massed nearly 92,000 troops near its borders, and speculated that Putin intended an offensive at the end of January or early February. Russia accused Ukraine of a military build-up of its own, and demanded "legal guarantees" that it would never join NATO.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 30 November Putin stated that an expansion of NATO's presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Moscow or missile defence systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a "red line" issue for the Kremlin. Putin argued that these missile-defense systems may be converted into launchers of offensive Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles. He said that "In a dialogue with the United States and its allies, we will insist on working out specific agreements that would exclude any further NATO moves eastward and the deployment of weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory." Stoltenberg replied that "It's only Ukraine and 30 NATO allies that decide when Ukraine is ready to join NATO. Russia has no veto, Russia has no say, and Russia has no right to establish a sphere of influence to try to control their neighbors."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 11 January 2022, it became known that a group of Republican congressmen intended to introduce a bill declaring Ukraine a NATO-plus country and initiating a review of the advisability of declaring Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. The authors of the bill argue that recognizing Ukraine as a "NATO+ country" will make it possible to quickly make decisions on the provision and sale of American defense goods and services to Ukraine. In particular, according to Mike Rogers, co-author of the bill, this rule concerns the provision of anti-ship and air defense systems. In addition, this bill proposes to create a mechanism for the rapid imposition of sanctions against Nord Stream 2 in the event of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The authors of the bill are convinced that in this way they will forever block the commissioning of the pipeline. Also, if adopted, the United States is obliged to consider and vote on whether to grant Russia the status of a "country-sponsor of international terrorism."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 14 January Andrii Yermak, Chairman of the Office of the President of Ukraine, praised the preparation of sanctions in the event of a Russian invasion, but warned that such an invasion "would be a great tragedy." He also said that the Ukrainian authorities hope to hear specific conditions for joining the North Atlantic Alliance:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 17 January Russian troops joined their Belarusian counterparts for an exercise aimed at "thwarting external aggression". The exercise began on 10 February.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 25 January papers a NATO response was prepared which "firmly ruled out Moscow's core demand against further NATO expansion." Russia sought an end to NATO's "long-standing open-door policy for new member countries" and that it remove troops and equipment from Eastern Europe. Dmitry Peskov said that "before there is any understanding of how we will continue, we need to get the text."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 27 January NATO submitted a proposal to Russia for the security of the latter, "that dismissed Moscow's central demands."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 28 January Putin said the West has ignored "Russia's fundamental concerns" on NATO's expansion and said that NATO had "strike weapons systems near Russia's borders".


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 31 January at a tense meeting of the UN Security Council, the "Washington Post" reported that "Russia has demanded a Western commitment to exclude Ukraine from its security umbrella and the removal of NATO forces and equipment from Eastern Europe and the Baltic States" and according to Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield "has threatened to take military action should its demands not be met." Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya denied any plans for invasion and said Russia was within its rights to station troops anywhere within its own territory. He stated "Not a single Russian politician, not a single public figure, not a single person said that we are planning to attack Ukraine." On the same day Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "The main question is our clear message that we consider further NATO expansion to the East and weapons deployment, which can threaten the Russian Federation, unacceptable." Stoltenberg said "Russia has used military exercises before as a disguise, as a cover... military buildup, exercises, threatening rhetoric and a track record... all of that together, of course, make this a serious threat."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 16 February, NATO's commanders were instructed by Secretary-General Stoltenberg to work out the details of a battlegroup deployment to the alliance's southeastern flank because there were no signs of a Russian de-escalation yet.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 19 February at the Munich Security Conference Stoltenberg remarked that despite NATO's "strong diplomatic efforts to find a political solution [to the Ukrainian crisis]... we have seen no sign of withdrawal or de-escalation so far. On the contrary, Russia’s build-up continues." He said "we have made written proposals to the Putin administration to reduce risks and increase transparency of military activities, address space and cyber threats, and engage on arms control, including on nuclear weapons and missiles... [Putin] is attempting to roll back history. And recreate [the] spheres of influence. [He] wants to limit NATO’s right to collective defence... and demands that we should remove all our forces and infrastructure from the countries that joined NATO after the fall of the Berlin Wall... wants to deny sovereign countries the right to choose their own path. And their own security arrangements. For Ukraine – but also for other countries, such as Finland and Sweden. And for the first time, we now see Beijing joining Moscow in calling on NATO to stop admitting new members. It is an attempt to control the fate of free nations. To rewrite the international rulebook. And impose their own authoritarian models of governance." On the dais with him was Ursula von der Leyen. Together they proceeded to give an interview to the witness audience.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 21 February Zelenskiy had accused Putin of "wrecking peace talks and ruled out making any territorial concessions". The same day, Stoltenberg advised Russia "in the strongest possible terms, to choose the path of diplomacy, and to immediately reverse its massive military build-up in and around Ukraine."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine in early 2022, the Federation Council of Russia recognised the Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics on 22 February 2022, after on 16 February the State Duma called on Putin to recognize the breakaway territories, the deputies passing the motion 351 to 16. On 21 February Putin signed decrees to recognize two self-proclaimed entities in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Also on 22 February 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk Agreements "no longer existed", and that Ukraine, not Russia, was to blame for their collapse. Stoltenberg condemned Putin's declaration: "This further undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk agreements, to which Russia is a party."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 1 March Stoltenberg convinced the President of Poland to forgo sending any fighter aircraft to Ukraine because of the risk of attracting Russian attacks onto its territory, which would likely cause NATO to invoke Article 5 of its constitution.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 4 March following an emergency meeting of Foreign Ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg rejected Zelenskyy's request to impose a no-fly zone over the country, stating that it might lead to a full-fledged war between the Alliance and Russia, and he declined to involve NATO, saying: "We are not part of this conflict." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Alliance was "doing everything we can to give the Ukrainian people the means to defend themselves against Russia... Unless the Kremlin changes course, it will continue down the road of increasing isolation and economic pain." The EU's High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell maintained "It’s Putin’s war, and only Putin can end it." Zelenskyy, incensed, replied:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 6 March Blinken raised the possibility of a three-way exchange between Poland, Ukraine and the US that would see Ukraine pilots fly Polish Mig-29s from a US airfield; in exchange for the Soviet-era jets Poland would receive used F-16s from the USAF.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 8 March Poland offered to donate 28 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, "ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein airbase" under US control in Germany. Press Secretary for the US Department of Defense John Kirby rejected the surprise announcement, and said "we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one". The next day he said the US would oppose any such plan for NATO nations, and termed the idea "high-risk", because it brought into question NATO's "co-combatant" status. The idea was quickly shot down by Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin. The Polish Prime Minister said on 9 March that any decision about delivering offensive weapons must be made unanimously by NATO members.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Also on 9 March, Zelenskyy's plea was reinforced by Azov battalion Major Denis Prokopenko, who was tasked with the defense of Mariupol: "If a no-fly zone over Ukraine is not provided soon we will not be able to manage the supply of water and food, medicine, as well as to evacuate people safely."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: At a press conference on 11 March, Stoltenberg was quoted: "President Putin's war on Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe. It has shaken the international order. And it continues to take a devastating toll on the Ukrainian people. But Putin seriously underestimated Ukraine. And he seriously underestimated the strength and unity of NATO, and of our friends and partners around the world." At the same press conference, the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau said that "Putin made a fundamental miscalculation. He thought Ukraine was weak, and he thought NATO was divided. He has been shown how wrong he is."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 15 March 2022, Zelenskyy stated that he did not anticipate Ukraine joining NATO in the near future due to a lack of consensus from member states that it was ready. He said "For years we have been hearing about how the door is supposedly open (to NATO membership) but now we hear that we cannot enter. And it is true, and it must be acknowledged."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 24 March, the 30 NATO heads of state held a meeting in Brussels and one result was a statement, which read in part:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 25 March, Stoltenberg was interviewed by "Euronews". He spoke of the Alliance doing "as much as they can" to support Ukraine, chiefly "with advanced anti-tank weapons, air defence systems" and with "financial support, humanitarian support, but also military support".


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 4 April, former Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her statement back in 2008 at the NATO summit in Bucharest to block Ukraine from joining NATO. This has been due to Ukraine's political decisions were not met at that time.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Western Ukraine has always been significantly more pro-NATO than the rest of the country. Eastern Ukraine is far more anti-NATO and pro-Russia than the rest of Ukraine.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: According to numerous independent polls conducted between 2002 and the events of 2014, Ukrainian public opinion on NATO membership was split, with the majority of those polled against joining the military alliance and many identifying it as a threat. A Gallup poll conducted in October 2008 showed that 43% of Ukrainians associated NATO as a threat to their country, while only 15% associated it with protection. A 2009 Gallup poll showed that 40% of Ukrainian adults associate NATO with "Threat" and 17% with "Protection". According to a poll by Razumkov Center in March 2011 20.6% on average across Ukraine considered NATO a threat; this number was 51% in Crimea. A 2013 Gallup poll showed that 29% associated NATO with "Threat" and 17% with "Protection"; 44% viewed it as neither.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Following the Russian military intervention of 2014, annexation of Crimea and the start of the Donbass War, many Ukrainians changed their views of NATO: polls from the middle of 2014 until 2016 showed that the majority of Ukrainians supported NATO membership.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: An electronic petition to the president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko was filed on 29 August 2015 requesting that a referendum on joining NATO be conducted. The petition achieved the required 25,000 votes to be considered. The president's reply stated that "One of the main priorities of Ukraine's foreign policy is to deepen cooperation with NATO to achieve the criteria required for membership in this organization. Today, we carry out security sector reform in Ukraine to reach NATO standards and to strengthen the country's defense system, which is necessary to counter Russian aggression. Once Ukraine fulfills all the necessary criteria to join the Alliance, final decision on this important issue will be approved by the Ukrainian people in a referendum."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: In February 2017, President Poroshenko announced that a referendum would be held during his presidency, with polls showing that 54% of Ukrainians favor such a move.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: According to a sociological survey conducted by the Ukrainian Institute for the Future together with the sociological company New Image Marketing Group in January 2022, 64% of Ukrainians support Ukraine's accession to NATO, while 17% do not support it, 13% do not have an unequivocal opinion on this issue. In the West of Ukraine, in the city of Kyiv and in the South of Ukraine, there were the most supporters of joining NATO – 73%, 71% and 59%. This idea is supported least of all in the East of Ukraine – 47%.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Russia is strongly opposed to any eastward expansion of NATO. Past leaders such as Gorbachev and Yeltsin had both raised objections, the latter clashing publicly with the Clinton administration over the issue. Nonetheless, the United States oversaw NATO's first round of expansion in 1999. A second wave including the Baltic states followed during the presidency of George W. Bush, who also supported the same idea for Georgia and Ukraine. On 12 February 2008, then Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia may target its missiles at Ukraine if its neighbour joins NATO and accepts the deployment of a US missile defence shield. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has stated more than once his country would not allow foreign military bases on its territory; as of December 2009, NATO was not planning to deploy military bases in Ukraine.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Prime Minister Putin reportedly declared at a NATO-Russia summit in 2008 that if Ukraine joined NATO his country could contend to annex the Ukrainian East and Crimea.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: During a NATO conference in Hungarian Parliament on 20 November 2008, Deputy Assistant Secretary-General Aurelia Bouchez said: "We should not make a choice between NATO enlargement and Russia as we need both" and NATO's Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a conference in Spain twelve days later: "The emergence of independent states within the former Soviet space is a reality. The ability of these states to determine their own future is a litmus test for the new Europe. Do we have to choose between good relations with Russia and further enlargement? My answer is no – we will not choose, will not sacrifice one for the other. It would bring new dividing lines."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: In an interview with the BBC on 18 November 2014, Russian President Putin spokesmen Dmitry Peskov called for "a 100% guarantee that no-one would think about Ukraine joining NATO"; two days later Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg rejected this call stating it would be "violating the idea of respecting the sovereignty of Ukraine, which is a fundamental".


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 30 November 2021, Russian President Putin stated that an expansion of NATO's presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Russian cities or missile defense systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a "red line" issue for Russia. Putin asked U.S. President Joe Biden for legal guarantees that NATO wouldn't expand eastward or put "weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory." According to Putin, "If some kind of strike systems appear on the territory of Ukraine, the flight time to Moscow will be seven to 10 minutes, and five minutes in the case of a hypersonic weapon being deployed." NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg replied that "It's only Ukraine and 30 NATO allies that decide when Ukraine is ready to join NATO. Russia has no veto, Russia has no say, and Russia has no right to establish a sphere of influence to try to control their neighbors."


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 1 December 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted to receive guarantees from the West that Ukraine would not join NATO. On 16 December, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the Alliance would not make concessions to Russia on the issue of Ukraine's accession. According to him, Ukraine has the right to protection and together with NATO will determine the issue of membership in the Alliance.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 17 December, the Russian Foreign Ministry unveiled a draft agreement between Russia and the United States on "security guarantees" and a draft agreement on measures to ensure the security of Russia and NATO member states. In particular, Russia proposes that NATO renounce the admission of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, as well as "any military activity on the territory of Ukraine." Russia also urges the United States not to establish military bases in the former Soviet Union and not to accept these countries into NATO.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 9 January 2022, following a visit to Ukraine in January 2022 and a trip to the contact line in the east, EU High Representative Josep Borrell wrote in his blog on the European External Action Service website that some of the provisions of the so-called "draft agreements" on security guarantees for Russia, represented by the Kremlin in December 2021, contradict the basic principles of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, so the willingness of NATO and Western countries to discuss these ideas does not mean their willingness to accept them:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: In this regard, on 10 January 2022, US and Russian diplomats held security talks in Geneva to discuss the military activities of both countries and growing tensions around Ukraine. The head of the Russian delegation at a meeting in Geneva between the United States and Russia said that Russia needed "concrete guarantees" that Ukraine and Georgia would never become members of NATO, enshrined in the decision of the Madrid Summit of 2022. Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said that "the risks of military confrontation should not be underestimated" and that the American side, refusing to not expand NATO, underestimates the seriousness of the situation.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: In turn, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO will not compromise with Russia on Ukraine's membership and that Ukraine's membership in NATO will be decided by Ukraine and its allies. He assured that the Alliance would help Ukraine to meet the criteria necessary for membership in the organization.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: The lead American diplomat to the talks, Wendy Sherman, stated that "We will not allow anyone to slam closed NATO’s open door policy." She said that Washington would not give up bilateral cooperation with sovereign states that want to work with the United States, and added that the U.S. government does not intend to decide about Ukraine without the participation of Ukraine, or about NATO without NATO.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 12 January 2022, a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was held in Brussels, where representatives of Russia and 30 member states of the Alliance discussed the requirements of the Russian side to NATO. Jens Stoltenberg again stated that the decision on Ukraine's readiness to join NATO can only be made by Ukraine and 30 allies in the Alliance, NATO will "seriously think" about increasing its presence in Eastern Europe in the event of "new Russian aggression." NATO is also ready to reopen its representative office in Moscow, the Secretary General added. Wendy Sherman noted that NATO will not abandon the policy of "open doors". Russia's demands were unacceptable. NATO allies would not agree with the impossibility of further expansion of the Alliance and a return to the configuration of the late twentieth century, which the Russian side insisted on during the negotiations, the US Deputy Secretary of State said.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko said that NATO did not initially profess the "open door" policy, which the Alliance declares today, if it failed to fend off threats to its security with political measures, Russia will use military measures:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: During the first OSCE meeting on 13 January 2022, Russia's permanent representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, stated that the Russian Federation would be forced to take measures to "eliminate unacceptable threats to national security" if it did not hear a constructive response to its security proposals within a reasonable time:


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at his annual foreign policy press conference that Moscow "has run out of patience" waiting for the West's response to the Kremlin's demands for "security guarantees", and therefore Russia is waiting for a written response within a week. Lavrov said the Kremlin would not wait "indefinitely" for a Western response to Moscow's demands that NATO not expand eastward and deploy troops in Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union. Lavrov's comments came a day after the White House said the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine remains high, with about 100,000 Russian troops deployed. The next day, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the Russian authorities must choose which way to go: choose additional diplomacy or, in case of further aggressive actions, face economic measures that will be stricter than in 2014.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: In an interview with La Repubblica on 14 January, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Kyiv had already applied to join the military-political alliance, and in 2008 NATO decided that Ukraine and Georgia would become members, but had not yet determined when exactly that would happen.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 19 January, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made a proposal to the United States to assume legal obligations not to vote for NATO membership of countries whose membership is opposed by the Russian Federation, reducing NATO's non-enlargement requirements. The Kremlin is ready to exchange such an "offer" for the conditions that were put forward earlier – the so-called guarantees of the non-expansion of the Alliance to the east. He noted that the decision taken at the 2008 Bucharest summit "should be ruled out" and that the United States should provide unilateral legal guarantees that "this will never happen". The position that Ukraine and Georgia will never become members of the North Atlantic Alliance, Ryabkov said, is a priority for the Kremlin. According to him, America must have "enough political will" for such a step.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 22 February 2022 Russia recognized the rebel republics of Donbas, sending its army in the region; finally, on 24 February 2022 Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Reuters reported that around the time of the invasion, a Russian government aide had brokered a peace deal with Ukraine that would keep Ukraine out of NATO. The Russian government denied that any such offer had been made. Reuters reported it had been declined by Putin, and that it was unclear that it would have had the support of Zelenskyy.


title: Ukraine–NATO relations

text: On 2 October 2022, the presidents of 9 NATO countries expressed support in a joint statement for Ukraine at some point joining NATO, in line with the conclusion of the 2008 Bucharest Summit, while not commenting explictly on Ukraine's application.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Steven Gregory Stayner (April 18, 1965September 16, 1989) was an American kidnapping victim. On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Stayner was abducted in Merced, California, by child molester Kenneth Parnell. He was held by his abductor away in Mariposa County, California, and later in Mendocino County, California, until he was aged 14, when he managed to escape with another of Parnell's victims, Timothy White.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Stayner died in 1989 in a motorcycle accident while riding home from work. He is the younger brother of Cary Stayner, a convicted serial killer.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Steven Stayner was the third of five children born to Delbert and Kay Stayner in Merced, California. He had three sisters and an older brother, Cary. In 2002, Cary was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of four women.


title: Steven Stayner

text: On the afternoon of December 4, 1972, Stayner was approached on his way home from school by a man named Ervin Edward Murphy, who had become acquainted with convicted child rapist Kenneth Parnell as they both worked at a resort in Yosemite National Park. Murphy, described by those who knew him as a trusting, naïve, and simple-minded man, had been enlisted by Parnell (who had passed himself off to Murphy as an aspiring minister) into helping him abduct a young boy so that Parnell could "raise him in a religious-type deal," as Murphy later stated.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Acting on instructions from Parnell, Murphy passed out gospel tracts to boys walking home from school that day and, after spotting Stayner, claimed to be a church representative seeking donations. Stayner later claimed that Murphy asked him if his mother would be willing to donate any items to the church. When the boy replied that she would, Murphy then asked Stayner where he lived and if he would be willing to take Murphy to his home.


title: Steven Stayner

text: After Stayner agreed, a white Buick driven by Parnell pulled up, and Stayner willingly climbed into the car with Murphy. Parnell then drove a confused Stayner to his cabin in nearby Catheys Valley instead. Unbeknownst to Stayner, Parnell's cabin was located only several hundred feet from his maternal grandfather's residence.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Parnell molested Stayner the first night at the cabin. Parnell began raping Stayner thirteen days later, on December 17, 1972. After Stayner told Parnell many times during that first week that he wanted to go home, Parnell told Stayner that he had been granted legal custody of the boy because his parents could not afford so many children and that they did not want him anymore.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Parnell began calling the boy Dennis Gregory Parnell, retaining Stayner's real middle name and his real birth date when enrolling him in various schools over the next several years. Parnell passed himself off as Stayner's father, and the two moved frequently around California, living in locations including Santa Rosa and Comptche. Parnell allowed Stayner to begin drinking at a young age and to come and go virtually as he pleased. Parnell had also moved from one menial job to another, some of his work requiring travel and leaving Stayner unguarded, causing an adult Stayner to remark he could have easily used these absences as opportunities to flee, but was unaware how to summon help.


title: Steven Stayner

text: One of the few positive aspects of Stayner's life with Parnell was the dog he had received as a gift from him, a Manchester Terrier that he named Queenie. This dog had been given to Parnell by his mother, who was not aware of Stayner's existence during the period when he was being held by Parnell.


title: Steven Stayner

text: For a period of eighteen months, a woman named Barbara Mathias lived with Parnell and Stayner. According to Stayner, Mathias, along with Parnell, raped him on nine separate occasions at the age of nine. In 1975, on Parnell's instruction, Mathias tried to lure another young boy, who was in the Santa Rosa Boys' Club with Stayner, into Parnell's car. The attempt was unsuccessful. Mathias later claimed to have been completely unaware that "Dennis" had been kidnapped.


title: Steven Stayner

text: As Stayner entered puberty, Parnell began to look for a younger child to kidnap. Parnell had used Stayner to attempt to kidnap children on prior occasions, but all the kidnapping attempts were unsuccessful. This caused Parnell to believe Stayner lacked the means to be an accomplice. Stayner revealed later that he had intentionally sabotaged these failed kidnappings. On February 14, 1980, Parnell and a teenage friend of Stayner's named Randall Sean Poorman kidnapped five-year-old Timmy White in Ukiah. Motivated in part by the young boy's distress, Stayner decided to return the boy to his parents.


title: Steven Stayner

text: On March 1, 1980, while Parnell was away at his night security job, Stayner left with White and hitchhiked into Ukiah. After they were unable to locate White's home, they went to a police station.


title: Steven Stayner

text: By daybreak on March 2, 1980, Parnell had been arrested on suspicion of abducting both boys. When the police checked into his background they found a previous sodomy conviction from 1951. Both children were reunited with their families that day. In 1981, Parnell was tried and convicted of kidnapping White and Stayner in two separate trials. He was sentenced to seven years, but was paroled after serving five.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Parnell was not charged with the numerous sexual assaults on Stayner and other boys because most of them occurred outside the jurisdiction of the Merced County prosecutor or were by then outside the statute of limitations. The Mendocino County prosecutors, acting almost entirely alone, decided not to prosecute Parnell for the sexual assaults that occurred in their jurisdiction.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Murphy, for helping kidnap Stayner, and Poorman, for helping kidnap White, were convicted of lesser charges. Both claimed they knew nothing of the sexual assaults on Stayner. Mathias was never arrested. Stayner remembered the kindness "Uncle" Murphy had shown him in his first week of captivity while they were both under the influence of Parnell's manipulation, and he believed that Murphy was as much Parnell's victim as he and Timmy were. Stayner's kidnapping and its aftermath prompted California lawmakers to change state laws "to allow consecutive prison terms in similar abduction cases."


title: Steven Stayner

text: After returning to his family, Stayner had trouble adjusting to a more structured household as he had been allowed to smoke, drink and do as he pleased when he lived with Parnell. In an interview with "Newsweek" shortly after his escape, Stayner said, "I returned almost a grown man and yet my parents saw me at first as their 7-year-old. After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better. But why doesn't my dad hug me anymore? [...] Everything has changed. Sometimes I blame myself. I don't know sometimes if I should have come home. Would I have been better off if I didn't?"


title: Steven Stayner

text: Stayner underwent brief counseling but never sought additional treatment. He also refused to disclose all the details of sexual abuse he endured from Parnell. In a 2007 interview, Stayner's sister said that her brother did not seek counseling because their father said Stayner "didn't need any". She added, "He [Steven] got on with his life but he was pretty messed up." He was bullied by other children at school for being molested and eventually dropped out. Stayner began to drink frequently, and was eventually kicked out of the family home. His relationship with his father remained strained.


title: Steven Stayner

text: In 1985, Stayner married 17-year-old Jody Edmondson, with whom he had two children: a daughter Ashley and a son Steven Jr. He also worked with child abduction groups, spoke to children about personal safety, and gave interviews about his kidnapping. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just before his death. At the time of his death, Stayner was living in Merced and working at a pizza shop.


title: Steven Stayner

text: On September 16, 1989, Stayner sustained fatal head injuries while on his way home from work when his motorcycle collided with a car in a hit-and-run accident. The alleged driver of the car was later identified by witnesses.


title: Steven Stayner

text: In early 1989, a television miniseries based on his experience, "I Know My First Name Is Steven" (also known as "The Missing Years"), was produced. Steven, taking a leave of absence from his job, acted as an advisor for Lorimar-Telepictures and had a non-speaking part, playing one of the two policemen who escort 14-year-old Steven (played by Corin Nemec) through the crowds to his waiting family, on his return to his Merced home. Although pleased with the dramatization, Stayner did complain that it depicted him as a somewhat "obnoxious, rude" person, especially toward his parents, something he refuted while publicizing the miniseries in the spring of 1989. The two-part miniseries was first broadcast by NBC on May 21–22, 1989. Screening rights were sold to a number of international television companies including the BBC, which screened the miniseries in mid-July of the following year; later still, it was released as a feature-length movie.


title: Steven Stayner

text: The production, which received four Emmy Award nominations, including one for Nemec, was based on a manuscript by Mike Echols, who had researched the story and interviewed Stayner and Parnell, among others. After the premiere, Echols published his book, also titled "I Know My First Name is Steven", in 1991. In the epilogue to his book, Echols describes how he infiltrated NAMBLA. In 1999, against the wishes of the Stayner family, Echols wrote an additional chapter about Steven's older brother Cary at the request of his publisher, which then re-published the book.


title: Steven Stayner

text: The title of the film and book are taken from the first paragraph of Steven's written police statement, given during the early hours of March 2, 1980 in Ukiah. It reads:


title: Steven Stayner

text: "My name is Steven Stainer "[sic]". I am fourteen years of age. I don't know my true birthdate, but I use April 18, 1965. I know my first name is Steven, I'm pretty sure my last is Stainer "[sic]", and if I have a middle name, I don't know it."


title: Steven Stayner

text: Steven's story was also included in the book "Against Their Will" by Nigel Cawthorne, a compilation of stories of kidnappings.


title: Steven Stayner

text: In April 2022, Hulu released a limited true-crime docuseries "Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story" following the life of Stayner and his family and how the kidnapping impacted their lives. Particular attention was paid to how the events impacted the life of Cary Stayner. The docuseries focused heavily on the miniseries and featured appearances by both Corin Nemec and Todd Eric Andrews.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Ten years after Stayner's death, the city of Merced asked its residents to propose names for city parks honoring Merced's notable citizens. Stayner's parents proposed that one be named "Stayner Park". This idea was eventually rejected and the honor was instead given to another Merced resident, because Stayner's brother Cary confessed to, and was convicted of, killing four women in Yosemite in 1999; Merced city officials feared that the name "Stayner Park" would be associated with Cary rather than Steven.


title: Steven Stayner

text: In 2004, Parnell, then 72 years old, was convicted of trying the previous year to persuade his caretaker's sister to procure for him a young boy for five hundred dollars. Aware of Parnell's past, she reported this to local police. Timmy White, then a grown man, was subpoenaed to testify in Parnell's criminal trial. Although Stayner was dead, his testimony at Parnell's earlier trial was read to jurors as evidence in Parnell's 2004 trial. Parnell died of natural causes on January 21, 2008, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California, while serving a sentence of 25 years to life.


title: Steven Stayner

text: White later became a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Deputy. He died on April 1, 2010, at age 35 from pulmonary embolism. Nearly five months later, on August 28, 2010, a statue of Stayner and White was dedicated in Applegate Park in Merced. Residents of Ukiah, White's hometown, carved a statue showing a teenage Stayner with young White in hand while escaping their captivity. Fundraisers for the statue have stated that it is meant to honor Steven Stayner and give families of missing and kidnapped children hope that they are still alive.


title: Steven Stayner

text: Steven's father, Delbert Stayner, died on April 9, 2013, at his home in Winton, California. He was 79 years old.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Artificial neural networks (ANNs), usually simply called neural networks (NNs) or neural nets, are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute animal brains.


title: Artificial neural network

text: An ANN is based on a collection of connected units or nodes called artificial neurons, which loosely model the neurons in a biological brain. Each connection, like the synapses in a biological brain, can transmit a signal to other neurons. An artificial neuron receives signals then processes them and can signal neurons connected to it. The "signal" at a connection is a real number, and the output of each neuron is computed by some non-linear function of the sum of its inputs. The connections are called "edges". Neurons and edges typically have a "weight" that adjusts as learning proceeds. The weight increases or decreases the strength of the signal at a connection. Neurons may have a threshold such that a signal is sent only if the aggregate signal crosses that threshold.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Typically, neurons are aggregated into layers. Different layers may perform different transformations on their inputs. Signals travel from the first layer (the input layer), to the last layer (the output layer), possibly after traversing the layers multiple times.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Neural networks learn (or are trained) by processing examples, each of which contains a known "input" and "result," forming probability-weighted associations between the two, which are stored within the data structure of the net itself. The training of a neural network from a given example is usually conducted by determining the difference between the processed output of the network (often a prediction) and a target output. This difference is the error. The network then adjusts its weighted associations according to a learning rule and using this error value. Successive adjustments will cause the neural network to produce output which is increasingly similar to the target output. After a sufficient number of these adjustments the training can be terminated based upon certain criteria. This is known as supervised learning.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Such systems "learn" to perform tasks by considering examples, generally without being programmed with task-specific rules. For example, in image recognition, they might learn to identify images that contain cats by analyzing example images that have been manually labeled as "cat" or "no cat" and using the results to identify cats in other images. They do this without any prior knowledge of cats, for example, that they have fur, tails, whiskers, and cat-like faces. Instead, they automatically generate identifying characteristics from the examples that they process.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts (1943) opened the subject by creating a computational model for neural networks. In the late 1940s, D. O. Hebb created a learning hypothesis based on the mechanism of neural plasticity that became known as Hebbian learning. Farley and Wesley A. Clark (1954) first used computational machines, then called "calculators", to simulate a Hebbian network. In 1958, psychologist Frank Rosenblatt invented the perceptron, the first artificial neural network, funded by the United States Office of Naval Research. The first functional networks with many layers were published by Ivakhnenko and Lapa in 1965, as the Group Method of Data Handling. The basics of continuous backpropagation were derived in the context of control theory by Kelley in 1960 and by Bryson in 1961, using principles of dynamic programming. Thereafter research stagnated following Minsky and Papert (1969), who discovered that basic perceptrons were incapable of processing the exclusive-or circuit and that computers lacked sufficient power to process useful neural networks.


title: Artificial neural network

text: In 1970, Seppo Linnainmaa published the general method for automatic differentiation (AD) of discrete connected networks of nested differentiable functions. In 1973, Dreyfus used backpropagation to adapt parameters of controllers in proportion to error gradients. Werbos's (1975) backpropagation algorithm enabled practical training of multi-layer networks. In 1982, he applied Linnainmaa's AD method to neural networks in the way that became widely used.


title: Artificial neural network

text: The development of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) very-large-scale integration (VLSI), in the form of complementary MOS (CMOS) technology, enabled increasing MOS transistor counts in digital electronics. This provided more processing power for the development of practical artificial neural networks in the 1980s.


title: Artificial neural network

text: In 1986 Rumelhart, Hinton and Williams showed that backpropagation learned interesting internal representations of words as feature vectors when trained to predict the next word in a sequence.


title: Artificial neural network

text: From 1988 onward, the use of neural networks transformed the field of protein structure prediction, in particular when the first cascading networks were trained on "profiles" (matrices) produced by multiple sequence alignments.


title: Artificial neural network

text: In 1992, max-pooling was introduced to help with least-shift invariance and tolerance to deformation to aid 3D object recognition. Schmidhuber adopted a multi-level hierarchy of networks (1992) pre-trained one level at a time by unsupervised learning and fine-tuned by backpropagation.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Neural networks' early successes included predicting the stock market and in 1995 a (mostly) self-driving car.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Geoffrey Hinton et al. (2006) proposed learning a high-level representation using successive layers of binary or real-valued latent variables with a restricted Boltzmann machine to model each layer. In 2012, Ng and Dean created a network that learned to recognize higher-level concepts, such as cats, only from watching unlabeled images. Unsupervised pre-training and increased computing power from GPUs and distributed computing allowed the use of larger networks, particularly in image and visual recognition problems, which became known as "deep learning".


title: Artificial neural network

text: Ciresan and colleagues (2010) showed that despite the vanishing gradient problem, GPUs make backpropagation feasible for many-layered feedforward neural networks. Between 2009 and 2012, ANNs began winning prizes in image recognition contests, approaching human level performance on various tasks, initially in pattern recognition and handwriting recognition. For example, the bi-directional and multi-dimensional long short-term memory (LSTM) of Graves et al. won three competitions in connected handwriting recognition in 2009 without any prior knowledge about the three languages to be learned.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Ciresan and colleagues built the first pattern recognizers to achieve human-competitive/superhuman performance on benchmarks such as traffic sign recognition (IJCNN 2012).


title: Artificial neural network

text: ANNs began as an attempt to exploit the architecture of the human brain to perform tasks that conventional algorithms had little success with. They soon reoriented towards improving empirical results, mostly abandoning attempts to remain true to their biological precursors. Neurons are connected to each other in various patterns, to allow the output of some neurons to become the input of others. The network forms a directed, weighted graph.


title: Artificial neural network

text: An artificial neural network consists of a collection of simulated neurons. Each neuron is a node which is connected to other nodes via links that correspond to biological axon-synapse-dendrite connections. Each link has a weight, which determines the strength of one node's influence on another.


title: Artificial neural network

text: ANNs are composed of artificial neurons which are conceptually derived from biological neurons. Each artificial neuron has inputs and produces a single output which can be sent to multiple other neurons. The inputs can be the feature values of a sample of external data, such as images or documents, or they can be the outputs of other neurons. The outputs of the final "output neurons" of the neural net accomplish the task, such as recognizing an object in an image.


title: Artificial neural network

text: To find the output of the neuron we take the weighted sum of all the inputs, weighted by the "weights" of the "connections" from the inputs to the neuron. We add a "bias" term to this sum. This weighted sum is sometimes called the "activation". This weighted sum is then passed through a (usually nonlinear) activation function to produce the output. The initial inputs are external data, such as images and documents. The ultimate outputs accomplish the task, such as recognizing an object in an image.


title: Artificial neural network

text: The neurons are typically organized into multiple layers, especially in deep learning. Neurons of one layer connect only to neurons of the immediately preceding and immediately following layers. The layer that receives external data is the "input layer". The layer that produces the ultimate result is the "output layer". In between them are zero or more "hidden layers". Single layer and unlayered networks are also used. Between two layers, multiple connection patterns are possible. They can be 'fully connected', with every neuron in one layer connecting to every neuron in the next layer. They can be "pooling", where a group of neurons in one layer connect to a single neuron in the next layer, thereby reducing the number of neurons in that layer. Neurons with only such connections form a directed acyclic graph and are known as "feedforward networks". Alternatively, networks that allow connections between neurons in the same or previous layers are known as "recurrent networks""."


title: Artificial neural network

text: A hyperparameter is a constant parameter whose value is set before the learning process begins. The values of parameters are derived via learning. Examples of hyperparameters include learning rate, the number of hidden layers and batch size. The values of some hyperparameters can be dependent on those of other hyperparameters. For example, the size of some layers can depend on the overall number of layers.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Learning is the adaptation of the network to better handle a task by considering sample observations. Learning involves adjusting the weights (and optional thresholds) of the network to improve the accuracy of the result. This is done by minimizing the observed errors. Learning is complete when examining additional observations does not usefully reduce the error rate. Even after learning, the error rate typically does not reach 0. If after learning, the error rate is too high, the network typically must be redesigned. Practically this is done by defining a cost function that is evaluated periodically during learning. As long as its output continues to decline, learning continues. The cost is frequently defined as a statistic whose value can only be approximated. The outputs are actually numbers, so when the error is low, the difference between the output (almost certainly a cat) and the correct answer (cat) is small. Learning attempts to reduce the total of the differences across the observations. Most learning models can be viewed as a straightforward application of optimization theory and statistical estimation.


title: Artificial neural network

text: The learning rate defines the size of the corrective steps that the model takes to adjust for errors in each observation. A high learning rate shortens the training time, but with lower ultimate accuracy, while a lower learning rate takes longer, but with the potential for greater accuracy. Optimizations such as Quickprop are primarily aimed at speeding up error minimization, while other improvements mainly try to increase reliability. In order to avoid oscillation inside the network such as alternating connection weights, and to improve the rate of convergence, refinements use an adaptive learning rate that increases or decreases as appropriate. The concept of momentum allows the balance between the gradient and the previous change to be weighted such that the weight adjustment depends to some degree on the previous change. A momentum close to 0 emphasizes the gradient, while a value close to 1 emphasizes the last change.


title: Artificial neural network

text: While it is possible to define a cost function ad hoc, frequently the choice is determined by the function's desirable properties (such as convexity) or because it arises from the model (e.g. in a probabilistic model the model's posterior probability can be used as an inverse cost).


title: Artificial neural network

text: Backpropagation is a method used to adjust the connection weights to compensate for each error found during learning. The error amount is effectively divided among the connections. Technically, backprop calculates the gradient (the derivative) of the cost function associated with a given state with respect to the weights. The weight updates can be done via stochastic gradient descent or other methods, such as Extreme Learning Machines, "No-prop" networks, training without backtracking, "weightless" networks, and non-connectionist neural networks.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Machine learning is commonly separated into three main learning paradigms, supervised learning, unsupervised learning and reinforcement learning. Each corresponds to a particular learning task.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Supervised learning uses a set of paired inputs and desired outputs. The learning task is to produce the desired output for each input. In this case the cost function is related to eliminating incorrect deductions. A commonly used cost is the mean-squared error, which tries to minimize the average squared error between the network's output and the desired output. Tasks suited for supervised learning are pattern recognition (also known as classification) and regression (also known as function approximation). Supervised learning is also applicable to sequential data (e.g., for hand writing, speech and gesture recognition). This can be thought of as learning with a "teacher", in the form of a function that provides continuous feedback on the quality of solutions obtained thus far.


title: Artificial neural network

text: In unsupervised learning, input data is given along with the cost function, some function of the data formula_1 and the network's output. The cost function is dependent on the task (the model domain) and any "a priori" assumptions (the implicit properties of the model, its parameters and the observed variables). As a trivial example, consider the model formula_2 where formula_3 is a constant and the cost formula_4. Minimizing this cost produces a value of formula_3 that is equal to the mean of the data. The cost function can be much more complicated. Its form depends on the application: for example, in compression it could be related to the mutual information between formula_1 and formula_7, whereas in statistical modeling, it could be related to the posterior probability of the model given the data (note that in both of those examples those quantities would be maximized rather than minimized). Tasks that fall within the paradigm of unsupervised learning are in general estimation problems; the applications include clustering, the estimation of statistical distributions, compression and filtering.


title: Artificial neural network

text: In applications such as playing video games, an actor takes a string of actions, receiving a generally unpredictable response from the environment after each one. The goal is to win the game, i.e., generate the most positive (lowest cost) responses. In reinforcement learning, the aim is to weight the network (devise a policy) to perform actions that minimize long-term (expected cumulative) cost. At each point in time the agent performs an action and the environment generates an observation and an instantaneous cost, according to some (usually unknown) rules. The rules and the long-term cost usually only can be estimated. At any juncture, the agent decides whether to explore new actions to uncover their costs or to exploit prior learning to proceed more quickly.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Formally the environment is modeled as a Markov decision process (MDP) with states formula_8 and actions formula_9. Because the state transitions are not known, probability distributions are used instead: the instantaneous cost distribution formula_10, the observation distribution formula_11 and the transition distribution formula_12, while a policy is defined as the conditional distribution over actions given the observations. Taken together, the two define a Markov chain (MC). The aim is to discover the lowest-cost MC.


title: Artificial neural network

text: ANNs serve as the learning component in such applications. Dynamic programming coupled with ANNs (giving neurodynamic programming) has been applied to problems such as those involved in vehicle routing, video games, natural resource management and medicine because of ANNs ability to mitigate losses of accuracy even when reducing the discretization grid density for numerically approximating the solution of control problems. Tasks that fall within the paradigm of reinforcement learning are control problems, games and other sequential decision making tasks.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Self-learning in neural networks was introduced in 1982 along with a neural network capable of self-learning named Crossbar Adaptive Array (CAA). It is a system with only one input, situation s, and only one output, action (or behavior) a. It has neither external advice input nor external reinforcement input from the environment. The CAA computes, in a crossbar fashion, both decisions about actions and emotions (feelings) about encountered situations. The system is driven by the interaction between cognition and emotion. Given the memory matrix, W =||w(a,s)||, the crossbar self-learning algorithm in each iteration performs the following computation:


title: Artificial neural network

text: The backpropagated value (secondary reinforcement) is the emotion toward the consequence situation. The CAA exists in two environments, one is behavioral environment where it behaves, and the other is genetic environment, where from it initially and only once receives initial emotions about to be encountered situations in the behavioral environment. Having received the genome vector (species vector) from the genetic environment, the CAA will learn a goal-seeking behavior, in the behavioral environment that contains both desirable and undesirable situations.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Neuroevolution can create neural network topologies and weights using evolutionary computation. It is competitive with sophisticated gradient descent approaches. One advantage of neuroevolution is that it may be less prone to get caught in "dead ends".


title: Artificial neural network

text: Stochastic neural networks originating from Sherrington–Kirkpatrick models are a type of artificial neural network built by introducing random variations into the network, either by giving the network's artificial neurons stochastic transfer functions, or by giving them stochastic weights. This makes them useful tools for optimization problems, since the random fluctuations help the network escape from local minima. Stochastic neural networks trained using a Bayesian approach are known as Bayesian neural networks.


title: Artificial neural network

text: In a Bayesian framework, a distribution over the set of allowed models is chosen to minimize the cost. Evolutionary methods, gene expression programming, simulated annealing, expectation-maximization, non-parametric methods and particle swarm optimization are other learning algorithms. Convergent recursion is a learning algorithm for cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) neural networks.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Two modes of learning are available: stochastic and batch. In stochastic learning, each input creates a weight adjustment. In batch learning weights are adjusted based on a batch of inputs, accumulating errors over the batch. Stochastic learning introduces "noise" into the process, using the local gradient calculated from one data point; this reduces the chance of the network getting stuck in local minima. However, batch learning typically yields a faster, more stable descent to a local minimum, since each update is performed in the direction of the batch's average error. A common compromise is to use "mini-batches", small batches with samples in each batch selected stochastically from the entire data set.


title: Artificial neural network

text: ANNs have evolved into a broad family of techniques that have advanced the state of the art across multiple domains. The simplest types have one or more static components, including number of units, number of layers, unit weights and topology. Dynamic types allow one or more of these to evolve via learning. The latter are much more complicated, but can shorten learning periods and produce better results. Some types allow/require learning to be "supervised" by the operator, while others operate independently. Some types operate purely in hardware, while others are purely software and run on general purpose computers.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Some of the main breakthroughs include: convolutional neural networks that have proven particularly successful in processing visual and other two-dimensional data; long short-term memory avoid the vanishing gradient problem and can handle signals that have a mix of low and high frequency components aiding large-vocabulary speech recognition, text-to-speech synthesis, and photo-real talking heads; competitive networks such as generative adversarial networks in which multiple networks (of varying structure) compete with each other, on tasks such as winning a game or on deceiving the opponent about the authenticity of an input.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Neural architecture search (NAS) uses machine learning to automate ANN design. Various approaches to NAS have designed networks that compare well with hand-designed systems. The basic search algorithm is to propose a candidate model, evaluate it against a dataset and use the results as feedback to teach the NAS network. Available systems include AutoML and AutoKeras.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Design issues include deciding the number, type and connectedness of network layers, as well as the size of each and the connection type (full, pooling, ...).


title: Artificial neural network

text: Hyperparameters must also be defined as part of the design (they are not learned), governing matters such as how many neurons are in each layer, learning rate, step, stride, depth, receptive field and padding (for CNNs), etc.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Because of their ability to reproduce and model nonlinear processes, artificial neural networks have found applications in many disciplines. Application areas include system identification and control (vehicle control, trajectory prediction, process control, natural resource management), quantum chemistry, general game playing, pattern recognition (radar systems, face identification, signal classification, 3D reconstruction, object recognition and more), sensor data analysis, sequence recognition (gesture, speech, handwritten and printed text recognition), medical diagnosis, finance (e.g. automated trading systems), data mining, visualization, machine translation, social network filtering and e-mail spam filtering. ANNs have been used to diagnose several types of cancers and to distinguish highly invasive cancer cell lines from less invasive lines using only cell shape information.


title: Artificial neural network

text: ANNs have been used to accelerate reliability analysis of infrastructures subject to natural disasters and to predict foundation settlements. ANNs have also been used for building black-box models in geoscience: hydrology, ocean modelling and coastal engineering, and geomorphology. ANNs have been employed in cybersecurity, with the objective to discriminate between legitimate activities and malicious ones. For example, machine learning has been used for classifying Android malware, for identifying domains belonging to threat actors and for detecting URLs posing a security risk. Research is underway on ANN systems designed for penetration testing, for detecting botnets, credit cards frauds and network intrusions.


title: Artificial neural network

text: ANNs have been proposed as a tool to solve partial differential equations in physics and simulate the properties of many-body open quantum systems. In brain research ANNs have studied short-term behavior of individual neurons, the dynamics of neural circuitry arise from interactions between individual neurons and how behavior can arise from abstract neural modules that represent complete subsystems. Studies considered long-and short-term plasticity of neural systems and their relation to learning and memory from the individual neuron to the system level.


title: Artificial neural network

text: The multilayer perceptron is a universal function approximator, as proven by the universal approximation theorem. However, the proof is not constructive regarding the number of neurons required, the network topology, the weights and the learning parameters.


title: Artificial neural network

text: A specific recurrent architecture with rational-valued weights (as opposed to full precision real number-valued weights) has the power of a universal Turing machine, using a finite number of neurons and standard linear connections. Further, the use of irrational values for weights results in a machine with super-Turing power.


title: Artificial neural network

text: A model's "capacity" property corresponds to its ability to model any given function. It is related to the amount of information that can be stored in the network and to the notion of complexity.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Two notions of capacity are known by the community. The information capacity and the VC Dimension. The information capacity of a perceptron is intensively discussed in Sir David MacKay's book which summarizes work by Thomas Cover. The capacity of a network of standard neurons (not convolutional) can be derived by four rules that derive from understanding a neuron as an electrical element. The information capacity captures the functions modelable by the network given any data as input. The second notion, is the VC dimension. VC Dimension uses the principles of measure theory and finds the maximum capacity under the best possible circumstances. This is, given input data in a specific form. As noted in, the VC Dimension for arbitrary inputs is half the information capacity of a Perceptron. The VC Dimension for arbitrary points is sometimes referred to as Memory Capacity.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Models may not consistently converge on a single solution, firstly because local minima may exist, depending on the cost function and the model. Secondly, the optimization method used might not guarantee to converge when it begins far from any local minimum. Thirdly, for sufficiently large data or parameters, some methods become impractical.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Another issue worthy to mention is that training may cross some Saddle point which may lead the convergence to the wrong direction.


title: Artificial neural network

text: The convergence behavior of certain types of ANN architectures are more understood than others. When the width of network approaches to infinity, the ANN is well described by its first order Taylor expansion throughout training, and so inherits the convergence behavior of affine models. Another example is when parameters are small, it is observed that ANNs often fits target functions from low to high frequencies. This behavior is referred to as the spectral bias, or frequency principle, of neural networks. This phenomenon is the opposite to the behavior of some well studied iterative numerical schemes such as Jacobi method. Deeper neural networks have been observed to be more biased towards low frequency functions.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Applications whose goal is to create a system that generalizes well to unseen examples, face the possibility of over-training. This arises in convoluted or over-specified systems when the network capacity significantly exceeds the needed free parameters. Two approaches address over-training. The first is to use cross-validation and similar techniques to check for the presence of over-training and to select hyperparameters to minimize the generalization error.


title: Artificial neural network

text: The second is to use some form of "regularization". This concept emerges in a probabilistic (Bayesian) framework, where regularization can be performed by selecting a larger prior probability over simpler models; but also in statistical learning theory, where the goal is to minimize over two quantities: the 'empirical risk' and the 'structural risk', which roughly corresponds to the error over the training set and the predicted error in unseen data due to overfitting.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Supervised neural networks that use a mean squared error (MSE) cost function can use formal statistical methods to determine the confidence of the trained model. The MSE on a validation set can be used as an estimate for variance. This value can then be used to calculate the confidence interval of network output, assuming a normal distribution. A confidence analysis made this way is statistically valid as long as the output probability distribution stays the same and the network is not modified.


title: Artificial neural network

text: By assigning a softmax activation function, a generalization of the logistic function, on the output layer of the neural network (or a softmax component in a component-based network) for categorical target variables, the outputs can be interpreted as posterior probabilities. This is useful in classification as it gives a certainty measure on classifications.


title: Artificial neural network

text: A common criticism of neural networks, particularly in robotics, is that they require too much training for real-world operation. Potential solutions include randomly shuffling training examples, by using a numerical optimization algorithm that does not take too large steps when changing the network connections following an example, grouping examples in so-called mini-batches and/or introducing a recursive least squares algorithm for CMAC.


title: Artificial neural network

text: A central claim of ANNs is that they embody new and powerful general principles for processing information. These principles are ill-defined. It is often claimed that they are emergent from the network itself. This allows simple statistical association (the basic function of artificial neural networks) to be described as learning or recognition. In 1997, Alexander Dewdney commented that, as a result, artificial neural networks have a "something-for-nothing quality, one that imparts a peculiar aura of laziness and a distinct lack of curiosity about just how good these computing systems are. No human hand (or mind) intervenes; solutions are found as if by magic; and no one, it seems, has learned anything". One response to Dewdney is that neural networks handle many complex and diverse tasks, ranging from autonomously flying aircraft to detecting credit card fraud to mastering the game of Go.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Biological brains use both shallow and deep circuits as reported by brain anatomy, displaying a wide variety of invariance. Weng argued that the brain self-wires largely according to signal statistics and therefore, a serial cascade cannot catch all major statistical dependencies.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Large and effective neural networks require considerable computing resources. While the brain has hardware tailored to the task of processing signals through a graph of neurons, simulating even a simplified neuron on von Neumann architecture may consume vast amounts of memory and storage. Furthermore, the designer often needs to transmit signals through many of these connections and their associated neurons which require enormous CPU power and time.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Schmidhuber noted that the resurgence of neural networks in the twenty-first century is largely attributable to advances in hardware: from 1991 to 2015, computing power, especially as delivered by GPGPUs (on GPUs), has increased around a million-fold, making the standard backpropagation algorithm feasible for training networks that are several layers deeper than before. The use of accelerators such as FPGAs and GPUs can reduce training times from months to days.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Neuromorphic engineering or a physical neural network addresses the hardware difficulty directly, by constructing non-von-Neumann chips to directly implement neural networks in circuitry. Another type of chip optimized for neural network processing is called a Tensor Processing Unit, or TPU.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Analyzing what has been learned by an ANN is much easier than analyzing what has been learned by a biological neural network. Furthermore, researchers involved in exploring learning algorithms for neural networks are gradually uncovering general principles that allow a learning machine to be successful. For example, local vs. non-local learning and shallow vs. deep architecture.


title: Artificial neural network

text: Advocates of hybrid models (combining neural networks and symbolic approaches), claim that such a mixture can better capture the mechanisms of the human mind.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Andrés Ponce Ruiz Jr. (born September 11, 1989) is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified heavyweight champion, having defeated Anthony Joshua to win the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles in 2019 to become the first male boxer of Mexican heritage to win a world heavyweight championship.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: As of October 2021, he is ranked as the world's fifth-best active heavyweight by ESPN, sixth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and BoxRec, and seventh by "The Ring" magazine.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Ruiz was born in Imperial, California; his parents had emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. His father is a former construction worker who started his own business flipping houses. Ruiz had a passion for baseball before his father got him into boxing; he has noted that his first fight was at age seven in San Diego. Ruiz later worked for his father in construction for a time before deciding to become a full-time boxer and starting his amateur career in Mexico. His grandfather owned a boxing gym in Mexicali that was used by featherweight champion Jorge Páez. Ruiz has explained that his nickname, 'Destroyer', was acquired before he started boxing, because as a child, "I was always destroying stuff."


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: During his amateur career, Ruiz boxed to a 105–5 record under Cuban trainer Fernando Ferrer. His 105 wins include two Mexican National Junior Olympics gold medals and a title at the Ringside World Championships. Ruiz also represented Mexico in two 2008 Beijing Olympic Games qualification tournaments, losing to eventual Olympians Robert Alfonso of Cuba and Óscar Rivas of Colombia in the first and second qualifiers. Ruiz's parents were born in Mexico, making Ruiz eligible to represent Mexico.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Ruiz had Freddie Roach in his corner and at the Wild Card Gym and sparred with former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski. Ruiz mostly fought journeymen opposition earlier in his career but did knock out two amateur stars in 2006 US amateur champion Jonte Willis and 2008 Golden Gloves champion Tor Hamer.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: A 19-year-old Ruiz made his professional debut on March 28, 2009, at the Plaza de Toros in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, in a four-round bout against Miguel Ramírez. Ruiz won the fight via a first-round knockout (KO). Ruiz fought again after three months at the same venue, this time knocking Ross Brantley down three times in round one, winning the bout via technical knockout (TKO). Ruiz took an eight-month gap before he returned to the ring in February 2010, winning a four-round unanimous decision against Juan Luis Lopez Alcaraz. A month later, Ruiz made his American debut at the Gaylord Hotel in Texas, knocking out Luke Vaughn in round one. Ruiz had his next three fights of 2010 also in the U.S., defeating Miles Kelly via KO, Raymond Lopez via unanimous decision and Francisco Diaz via KO. On February 5, 2011, Ruiz knocked out Kelsey Arnold in the third-round and in the same month defeated Alvaro Morales via unanimous decision 59–55, 59–55, and 60–54. In April 2011, Ruiz defeated Angel Herrera via six-round unanimous decision. In July, Ruiz fought at the Texas Station Casino, Las Vegas, defeating Villi Bloomfield via fourth-round TKO. He returned to the Casino on December 7 and defeated Elijah McCall (11–1–1, 10 KOs), son of former world champion Oliver McCall, by a TKO one second before round three ended. Referee Kenny Bayless waves off the fight after McCall stopped defending himself. Ruiz's hand speed was showcased in this fight.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: On March 23, 2012, Ruiz fought his first eight-round fight, outpointing Homero Fonseca. All three judges scored the fight 80–72. In July, Ruiz fought Jonte Willis (8–3–1, 3 KOs) at the Home Depot Center, Carson, California. Willis entered with a record of 1–3–1 in his previous five fights, including a split decision loss three months prior to Denis Bakhtov (33–7). Ruiz floored Willis in round five from a short right hand before referee Wayne Hedgpeth stopped the bout in round eight, after a combination of unanswered punches. This was on the undercard of Donaire vs. Mathebula.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: On July 27, 2013 Ruiz traveled to Macau with Top Rank to fight at the Cotai Arena against undefeated 30 year old American Joe Hanks (21-0, 14 KOs) in a scheduled ten round fight. Ruiz dropped Hanks twice in round four with fast right hands, forcing the stoppage. Ruiz claimed the vacant WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title with this win. On November 24, Ruiz fought again the Cotai Arena, this time on the Pacquiao-Rios undercard, successfully defending his WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title and claiming the vacant WBC-NABF heavyweight title defeating Tor Hamer (21-2, 14 KOs). The fight was stopped after the third-round when Hamer indicated he did not wish to continue. Over the three rounds, Ruiz landed 74 of 213 punches thrown (35%) and Hamer landed 49 of his 131 thrown (37%) before he quit on his stool. This was the second time Hamer had retired on his stool following his previous loss to Vyacheslav Glazkov in December 2012. His promoter Lou DiBella announced Hamer had been released from his contract.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: On December 20, 2014 Ruiz fought former WBO heavyweight champion, 38 year old Siarhei Liakhovich (26-6, 16 KOs) at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona. Ruiz was taken to the ten round distance for the first time in his career by Liakhovich, who trained hard for this fight and tried to win. The scorecards read 98–92, 96–94, and 99–91, all in favour of Ruiz who retained his titles. This was the last time Liakhovich fought. Ruiz revealed he fractured his right hand during the second round. In June 2015, Ruiz began training with well-known trainer Abel Sanchez, whose most notable boxer was Gennady Golovkin.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: After a 9-month gap, Ruiz returned to the ring in September 2015 at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California defeating Joell Godfrey via unanimous decision over eight rounds, all three judges scored it 80–72. Godfrey was a late replacement for Devin Vargas, who was unable to obtain a license from the California Athletic Commission. A month later, Ruiz fought veteran Raphael Zumbano Love (37-11-1, 30 KOs). Ruiz won on points after eight rounds.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: On May 14, 2016 Ruiz fought 45 year old, former world title challenger Ray Austin (29-6-4, 18 KOs) at the Sportsman's Lodge in California. Austin weighed 18 pounds more than Ruiz at the weigh-in. This was the first time in 14 professional fights that Ruiz was outweighed by his opponent. This was Ruiz's fourth successful defence of his WBC-NABF heavyweight title as Austin was down in round one, he injured his right hand and failed to come out of his corner for round five. After this bout, Ruiz increased his record to 27 wins in as many fights.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Ruiz fought on July 16 against 42 year old Josh Gormley (22-4, 21 KOs) at the Masonic Temple in Michigan. Promoted by Salita Promotions. Ruiz won the fight via third-round TKO.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Ruiz next fought on September 10, 2016 returning to the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in California to headline "Solo Boxeo Tecate" (UniMas) against 40 year old Franklin Lawrence (21-2-2, 16 KOs) for the WBC-NABF heavyweight title. Lawrence has won his last nine fights inside the distance dating back to 2009, with his last loss being against veteran Oliver McCall. His only other loss came in his fifth professional fight against future WBC world champion Bermane Stiverne, which was stopped after Lawrence injured his arm in round one. Ruiz made a successful fifth defence of his WBC-NABF title after ten one-sided rounds. The judges scored the fight 100–90, 99–91, and 99–91. The win also set up a future WBO eliminator with bout with Hughie Fury.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: It was announced after the Lawrence fight that Ruiz would fight Hughie Fury in the UK on October 29 at the Manchester Arena, on the undercard of the cancelled rematch between Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko. The winner would be the mandatory challenger for the WBO heavyweight title. Two weeks later, it was reported that Ruiz had withdrawn because he did not want the fight.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Ruiz was ordered to fight Joseph Parker in New Zealand for the WBO heavyweight title with the fight set to take place on December 10, 2016. This fight came about by Ruiz being one of the top two ranked contenders willing to fight for the vacant title. The title became vacant when former champion Tyson Fury vacated the title.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Discussions and negotiations began after Fury was expected to be stripped of his WBO belt over inactivity and testing positive for cocaine. With his sudden announcement that he would relinquish his heavyweight world title belts due to his various issues, it was unclear exactly how the WBO and WBA would go about filling the vacancies. But before Fury vacated, Duco Events promoter Dean Lonergan announced in early October he had been negotiating an alternative WBO title fight against Ruiz, suggesting he had a chance of reaching a deal with Bob Arum. He pointed out that the WBO rules stated the two best-classified contenders will challenge for the title. Arum told "ESPN.com" that he was in talks with the WBO about making it for the vacant title.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Ruiz failed to become the first heavyweight of Mexican ancestry to win a world title when Parker won the bout by a majority decision. The judges scored the fight 114–114, 115–113, and 115–113. Ruiz started off well being the aggressor but slowed down during mid rounds, only to take control again during the championship rounds. Both men showed respect for each other throughout the contest. After the fight, Ruiz said, "I think I got the win or at least a draw, I think I set the pace with my jab." Ruiz said he wanted a rematch. CompuBox stats showed that Parker landed 119 of 560 punches thrown (21%) and Ruiz landed 107 of his 416 thrown (26%). On a delayed HBO broadcast, the fight peaked at 585,000 viewers, with an average of 521,000 viewers.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: On December 19, 2017 Angel "Memo" Heredia, a well known strength and conditioning trainer, confirmed that he would be working alongside Ruiz. Ruiz was next to make a ring return on February 3, 2018 on the undercard of Gilberto Ramirez vs. Habib Ahmed WBO super middleweight title fight at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Ruiz did not appear on the card and instead his return was pushed back to take place at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on the undercard of Óscar Valdez vs. Scott Quigg on March 10. In his absence from the ring, he explained, "I just wanted to take a break. I already have 30 fights. I wanted to be with the family, I started investing my money. I started building houses. But every boxers needs that little break and now I've got to come back harder." American boxer Devin Vargas (20-4, 8 KOs) was confirmed as his opponent in a scheduled eight round bout. Ruiz knocked Vargas out in round one. He landed a big right hand to the head of Vargas, dropping him. Referee Thomas Taylor called off the fight. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:38 of round one. Ruiz showed good power and speed during the short fight. For the bout, Ruiz trained with Manny Robles. Ruiz received a $500,000 purse.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: His next fight was scheduled to take place on July 7, 2018 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California against veteran journeyman Kevin Johnson (32-9-1, 16 KOs). The main goal for this bout was for Ruiz to get in some much needed rounds, having only completed less than a round in over a year. Johnson, who had previously only been stopped twice in his nine losses, was known for his toughness, having taken the likes of Kubrat Pulev, Derek Chisora, Tyson Fury and Vitali Klitschko the twelve round distance. Ruiz dominated Johnson over ten rounds, winning via unanimous decision with scores of 99–91, 97–93, and 97–93. Johnson did not do much apart from throw a strong jab from time to time. It was Ruiz who was busy and remained in control for majority of the bout. Ruiz admitted it was good to go the distance and called out some of the better heavyweights, namely Jarrell Miller.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: On January 11, 2019, it was reported that Ruiz had signed a deal with powerful advisor Al Haymon, and would now be part of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) stable, with his fights being aired on Showtime and FOX. It was said that Ruiz had bought out the remainder of his Top Rank promotional contract. On March 7, Ruiz's PBC debut was announced to take place on the Danny García vs. Adrián Granados undercard on April 20 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California against 36 year old German boxer Alexander Dimitrenko (41-4, 26 KOs) in a ten-round bout. The fight was televised on FOX and FOX Deportes. For the fight, Ruiz weighed 262 pounds and Dimitrenko came it at 259 pounds. Ruiz was guaranteed a $200,000 purse, whilst Dimitrenko was guaranteed $75,000. Using his quick hands and combinations, Ruiz was able to overcome Dimitrenko via TKO in round five. The bout nearly came to an end in round four when Ruiz nearly knocked Dimitrenko down, however Dimitrenko managed to make it to the end of the round. Ruiz landed 68 punches overall, compared to Dimitrenko, who landed 21 punches. For his next fight, Ruiz wanted to fight Adam Kownacki.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Prior to the Dimitrenko fight, Ruiz put his name forward to replace Jarrell Miller and challenge Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) for the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles on June 1, 2019, after Miller was denied a license by the New York Athletic Commission because he failed three different tests for PEDs. On April 22, Ruiz confirmed his team had a meeting scheduled with promoter Eddie Hearn, officially putting himself in the running. Ruiz became a frontrunner after it was reported Luis Ortiz's team had rejected two offers of career-high purses to fight Joshua. Terms were agreed within a week. On May 1, with one month to go before fight night, Joshua vs. Ruiz was confirmed and announced to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, broadcast exclusively on DAZN in the United States and on PPV Sky Sports Box Office in the United Kingdom.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: On June 1, Ruiz defeated Joshua by technical knockout in the seventh-round, capturing the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles. The first two rounds of the fight were relatively slow, with both men feeling each other out. In the third round, Joshua knocked Ruiz to the canvas, which was the first time Ruiz had suffered a knockdown in his career. Ruiz rose to his feet, seemingly unfazed by Joshua's power, and quickly continued to attack. Mere moments after having hit the canvas himself, Ruiz responded with a succession of heavy punches; despite hitting Ruiz with repeated jabs to the face, Joshua was caught off guard by a left hook to the temple which visibly staggered him, after which Ruiz knocked him down. Joshua was able to get back up, but did not respond as aggressively as Ruiz had, instead choosing to remain on the defensive. Just before the end of round three, Ruiz again managed to fell a disoriented Joshua after forcing him into a corner and unleashing a series of power punches.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Rounds four through six consisted of minor exchanges between Ruiz and Joshua. In round seven, Ruiz knocked Joshua down once again with a short sequence of heavy blows. Joshua managed to get back on his feet again before being floored for a fourth and final time. Almost immediately after dropping to the canvas, Joshua spat out his mouthpiece before rising, turned away from the referee, and walked somewhat unsteadily back to his corner. Joshua then faced the referee with his arms resting on the ropes. Disoriented and hesitant to continue the match, Joshua's responses to questioning were deemed insufficient, resulting in the referee waving off the fight. The referee subsequently awarded Ruiz a seventh-round technical knockout victory, making him the first Mexican-American and second Hispanic heavyweight champion in boxing history after John Ruiz (who has no relation to Andy Ruiz). At the time of stoppage, Ruiz was leading the fight 57–56 on two scorecards and Joshua was leading 57–56 on the other. It is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: In September 2019 it was announced that Ruiz would defend his titles against Joshua in a rematch. The fight broke the UK PPV record, totaling 1.575 million buys in the UK. The fight was a low-key affair in which Joshua mainly stayed behind his jab. Joshua boxed a disciplined fight, keeping Ruiz at a distance with his jab and using lateral movement to avoid trading punches up close as he had in their first encounter. He started off well, landing a sharp right hand in the first round that cut Ruiz to the side of his left eye. Joshua continued to box economically and land the more meaningful punches. Ruiz had some success when he tagged Joshua to the head and body at the end of the fourth round, but Joshua remained firmly in control of the action. Ruiz lost the fight via unanimous decision, with the three judges scoring the bout 118–110, 118–110, and 119–109. In his post-fight interview, Ruiz admitted that he hadn't trained diligently for the fight, stating, "I should have taken this fight more seriously. Three months of partying and celebrating affected me." In addition, he showed respect to Joshua, saying "Anthony Joshua did a hell of a job."


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: In his first fight since losing his world titles, Ruiz faced former WBC title challenger Chris Arreola on Fox PPV on May 1, 2021. This was his first fight with his new trainer Eddy Reynoso in his corner. Ruiz recovered from a second round knockdown to win a unanimous decision with scores of 118–109, 118–109, 117–110.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Sixteen months after defeating Chris Arreola, Ruiz returned to the ring on September 4, 2022 in Los Angeles to face former WBA interim heavyweight champion Luis Ortiz in an eliminator for the WBC title. Despite being outboxed by Ortiz for portions of the fight, Ruiz dropped his opponent three times, twice in the second round and once in the seventh. The knockdowns proved to be decisive, with the judges scoring the bout 114–111, 114–111 and 113–112 in Ruiz's favor. Former WBC champion Deontay Wilder had been in attendance, and both Ruiz and Wilder welcomed the prospect of facing each other.


title: Andy Ruiz Jr.

text: Ruiz resides in his hometown of Imperial, California; he graduated from Imperial High School in 2007 Ruiz considers himself both American and Mexican and identifies with both nationalities: "America's one of the greatest countries in the world. For me, I'm an American and I'm a Mexican. I live here. And it hurts me the way a lot of people talk about Mexicans when I know we're all about hard work and dedication." He is fluent in both English and Spanish.


title: Annette O'Toole

text: Annette O'Toole (born Annette Toole; April 1, 1952) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Lisa Bridges in the television series "Nash Bridges", Beverly Marsh in the 1990 television mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's epic horror novel "It", Lana Lang in "Superman III", Kathy in the romantic-comedy film "Cross My Heart" and Martha Kent (the mother of Clark Kent) on the television series "Smallville".