If you take that approach, Ukraine is still a special operation.

Of course, which is why I called the whole lot wars until someone started HN nitpicking one of them

Russia has officially declared they are at war with Ukraine

Russia has not formally declared they are at war. Some like Peskov have stated that they are in a state of war but that's different. In fact it is illegal in Russia to refer to it as a war. This law was introduced in 2022 and has not been repealed.

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/05/1084729579/russian-law-bans-j...

To add on that, the propaganda spinned it as:

1. Not a war

2. A defensive/protective operation.

The reason being the article 353 of Russian Criminal Code, under which planning or waging a war of aggression carries a prison sentence.

https://crimeofaggression.info/selected-documents/

Not that the law matters in Russia, but defence in depth I guess.