K x-ray spectra of metallic vanadium and its compounds ͑V 2 O 3 , VO 2 , V 2 O 5 , VC, VN, VCl 2 , NH 4 VO 3 , and VOSO 4 ϫ 5H 2 O͒ induced in thick targets by 3 MeV proton beams were measured by using wavelength dispersive ͑WD͒ x-ray spectrometer. In addition to the main K 1,3 x-ray line, "satellites" or second order contributions like KЈ, KЉ, Kٞ, and K 2,5 were clearly resolved. Intensities and positions of these lines relative to the K 1,3 x-ray line have been extracted by fitting the spectra and corrected for x-ray sample self-absorption. The influence of the oxidation states and vanadium-ligand bond distances in studied compounds on relative intensities and positions of KЉ, K 2,5 , and ͑KЉ + K 2,5 ͒ x-ray lines ͑relative to K 1,3 + KЈ͒ has been studied and discussed. The obtained results indicate that the strength of the KЉ and K 2,5 transition probability per vanadium-ligand pair decreases exponentially with increasing vanadium-ligand distance, in agreement with the observation reported by Bergman et al. for KЉ relative intensity in a number of Mn oxide compounds ͓U.