Between Ukraine and Russia, a notorious conflict is going on currently. The relationship between these two countries has been quite hostile since the Ukraine Revolution of Dignity in 2014, which was followed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
To fully understand this conflict, we must first establish some context from a historical standpoint. The Ukraine-Russia conflict has been happening for a long time since the Soviet Union in Russia. The Soviet Union was the communist government of Russia and spanned control across Europe and Asia. Ukraine used to be a part of Russia when they were a communist state but when the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991, Ukraine became an independent country. The Ukraine Revolution of Dignity happened in Feb 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests (which was the objections against Ukraine government’s decision to not sign the European Union – Ukraine Association Agreement, and instead choose closer ties to Russia). People didn’t like this decision as they didn’t want Ukraine to be closer with Russia since they were previously closer to Russia during the Soviet Union. In the Revolution of Dignity, there were dead clashes between protestors and the security forces in the Ukrainian capital for the outing of the elected president in order to overthrow the Ukraine government. This was a 5-day revolution which then eventually led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The annexation of Crimea was in February and March 2014 in which Russia invaded and took the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and then made it a part of Russia. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine because President Vladimir Putin said that Russian troops in Crimean Peninsula were going to ensure proper conditions of the people of Crimea. Putin just wanted more territory and land as Russia lost lots of territory when the Soviet Union was disbanded. Since then, Ukraine and Russia have had a tense relationship.
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine as an act of aggression. This caused a mass refugee crisis in Ukraine with more than 4.6 million Ukrainians being forced to leave the country. Russia did this as President Vladimir Putin feared having too many NATO countries near the Russian border. NATO is an alliance between many countries and Russia is not a part of it. Ukraine wanted to join NATO but before they could, Russia invaded Ukraine in an attempt to stop them from being a part of NATO. After this first invasion, Russia kept on attacking Ukraine through many different ways such as bombings, military invasion, etc. Since February 24, 2022, more than 3000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine. To me, it is absurd that innocent lives are being lost from this conflict. Innocent men, women, and children are being forced to leave their country because of this conflict. This conflict is ongoing and has been continuing since early 2022. It is currently June 2022 and for the past 4 months, the conflict has been getting worse and worse with more and more people dying. The United States is now involved as the US is sending aids to Ukraine, such as, the 34 billion dollars for new military, economic, and humanitarian support. The United States cannot physically get involved because of the NATO agreement. In Article 5 of the NATO charter, it says “an attack on one member is an attack on all of its members.” Meaning, that if the United States gets involved with attacks against Russia in support for Ukraine, this would lead to a global war. This global war could then possibly lead to a nuclear war which is not the ideal outcome for anybody. With this, the United States and all other NATO countries have not engaged physically. We can understand how this Russia-Ukraine conflict has become a global problem in which countries around the world are now helping Ukraine. There are many major effects that come forth from this war. Some effects are the fast-moving refugee crisis, unprecedented sanctions against the major economy, and a huge shakeup in global relations.
Overall, we can see how this Russia- Ukraine conflict has been happening for a long time, creating adverse impact to the society and the world around us. Ukraine is struggling and being heavily harmed by Russia, and it is time that something is done to alleviate the situation.
Ayan Kumar's Blog 