The attack on Ukraine by Russia is potentially the onset of war in Europe on top of Russia’s behest for an end to NATO’s eastward expansion. The launch of the major invasion by Russia on Ukraine, that started with air and missile assaults on Ukrainian military targets before sending troops and tanks across the country’s northern, eastern, and southern borders. On many fronts, the Ukrainian military fought back. In a video speech delivered early Friday, February 25, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that 137 people had been killed, including troops and civilians, and that hundreds more had been injured.
Background:
Since the invasion of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine has been living in fear of war with Russia for nearly eight years. Russia and Ukraine have been at odds for a long time, with Russia claiming Ukraine as a part of its country and opposing Ukraine’s developing ties to the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to recapture the former Soviet Union Republic.
He requested that the Ukrainian military put down their weapons. Prior to its cessation in 1991, Russia and Ukraine were both members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which consisted of 15 republics.
Genesis of the Conflict:
- The heat between Russia and Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, have existed for a decent amount of time, they began to escalate out of control in early 2021. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s President hinted the US President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to join the NATO forces in January of last year.
- This Russia is highly infuriated , which began sending soldiers near the Ukrainian border for “training exercises” in the spring of last year and boosted the number in the fall. The US began to hype that there is a deployment of Russian troops, and Vice President Joe Biden had threatened Russia with heavy sanctions if Russia attacked Ukraine.
- Russia wants a legally enforceable promise from the US that NATO forces will not conduct any military operations in eastern Europe, especially in Ukraine. According to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, Ukraine is merely a puppet of the US and was never a real sovereign country in the first place.
- This isn’t the first time that conflicts between Russia and Ukraine have erupted. Russia had previously invaded Ukraine in 2014, it happened when pro-Putin separatists captured major swaths of eastern Ukraine, and they have been fighting the Ukrainian army since the invasion. Russia also annexed Crimea at that time.
- Ukraine has extensive social and cultural ties with Russia, and Russian is widely spoken there, but those ties have deteriorated since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014.
- When Ukraine’s pro-Russian president lost in early 2014, Russia came to an offensive. It is estimated that more than 14,000 people have died as a result of the continuous war happening in the east.
- The Minsk peace agreement was signed by Russia and Ukraine to end the ongoing violent armed conflict which was going on in east Ukraine, including Donbas region. However, as the armed conflict continues, Russia said that it will be sending “peacekeepers” to the affected region. According to the , Moscow is using it as a cover to occupy sovereign Ukrainian country.
- The rising tension between Russia and Ukraine, which shares a border with the European Union, has ramifications for the European Union. This is why the European Union has joined the US in declaration of the penalties against Russian firms, the majority of which the NATO members.
- Just a few weeks back, French President Emmanuel Macron had travelled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to calm down the ongoing tensions.
- India is also suggesting for a diplomatic solution, through talks to the present Russian-Ukraine violent conflict.
