Most people are aware of the conflicts between Ukraine and Russia, however, many don’t know much after that. So what’s happening and why is it important?
The conflicts between Ukraine and Russia have been around for years and this is not the first time Russia has threatened to invade Ukraine. In 2014 a similar situation occurred which resulted in the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, with tensions and war persisting ever since.
Skip forward to the current day and in 2022, Vladimir Putin, still Russia’s current president, is creating more tension and pressure yet again. Putin firmly believes that Ukraine is not and was never a proper state and has actively declared “that modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia”. As a former Soviet republic, Ukraine has strong cultural, social and economic ties with Russia, but since the previous invasion in 2014, these ties have been slowly fading away.
The conflict in 2022 surrounds Russia resisting Ukraine’s want to move towards the west and be involved with several European institutions, including both the EU and NATO. Russia, as we know, does not consider Ukraine its own state, and wants to ensure Ukraine feels the pressure to resist Western urges.
To ensure Ukraine felt this pressure to resist western urges, Putin lined the Ukrainian borders with over 100,000 Russian militaries for “peacekeeping”, however, as of February 23rd, 2022, Putin has ordered troops into Donetsk and Luhansk. Donetsk and Luhansk are located in Ukraine but have been annexed and under war by Russian rebels for several years, all under the alleged influence and orders of Putin.
Although Russia has not currently invaded the rest of Ukraine, many countries and specialists believe an invasion is highly likely to occur soon. Europe has not seen a war on its continent for many years and, if this occurs, it will have detrimental effects on not only Ukraine but most of Europe.
If Russia invades Ukraine it will have severe economic impacts on the rest of Europe and the world, as well as new sanctions, such as a possible increase in fuel price, energy supply issues and floods of refugees due to the war. It would also more than likely result in thousands of unnecessary and innocent deaths over territory and politics.
However, for now, the jury is still out on what happens next and unfortunately, Putin is the only one who can make that final decision.