Ukraine and Russia War Update
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began almost over eight months ago in February of 2022. Recently, the rest of the world witnessed the dispute between the two countries for the first time; however, the fighting between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for many years. This leads to the question of what exactly drove Russia to invade Ukraine? And also, what is happening currently in the war and how will this war impact other powerful nations and the world as a whole?
To understand why Russian forces decided to invade Ukraine, we must track this conflict between the two countries from as early as the 1990s. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Russia and Ukraine became independent parties. Government disagreement began in the early 2010s when Viktor Yanukovych (the previous Ukrainian president) wanted to unite with Russia rather than the rest of Europe. This foreign agreement angered the Ukrainian people, which resulted in the dismissal of the president. The next president that was appointed supported a partnership with Europe rather than Russia. Putin feared that Ukraine was headed toward an “all-out” alliance with Europe and the United States. This caused him to annex and take over southern and eastern parts of Ukraine. Putin claimed that this would be an attempt to tie the two countries together.
In February 2022, Putin is still insisting that Ukraine and Russia are brother nations. In his essay, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” Putin says that the spiritual unity of both countries has been attacked. With this, he invaded on behalf of the areas he annexed in earlier years and Russia.
Currently, Russia has initiated missile strikes and has targeted civilian areas. Cities such as Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia have reported missile strikes with an explosion of the bridge linking Russia and Crimea. Russia is now, according to Ukraine’s president Zelensky, targeting energy infrastructure.
This war is impacting the world by putting a very powerful country on the defensive line. Major states are supporting Ukraine and they are playing defense when referring to Russia and foreign political agendas. Consequences on the economy and financial markets have begun since the war, especially in the departments of oil and natural gas, as costs have jumped boosting inflation.
After Putin’s formal announcement and speech on annexing some regions of Ukraine, the people of Ukraine and the world focused on his statement of defending the land with all powers. This worries people that he is referencing the use of nuclear arms.
With this said, the Ukrainian people have fought endlessly defending against the Russian army and will continue to do so till they no longer can. Russia is hoping to instill a draft to gain more military strength while Zelensky is calling for punishment of Russia for the “war crimes” they have committed.
