President Biden of the United States (left) and President Putin of Russia (right). Image courtesy of Reuters.
I asked my brother, Nathaniel, how he was getting acclimated to his new school. “It’s a ghost-town, Stephanie,” he replied, “everybody left.” My brother was referring to the American embassy kids who had left.
My family currently lives in Ukraine, Kyiv. When telling people my family lives there, the usual response is cringing faces and apologetic demeanors. The current political tensions surrounding Ukraine and Russia are widely known, but the situation holds more significance to me than the average American citizen given my personal ties. Fortunately, I am lucky enough to be away from the conflict with the knowledge that my family has the chance to escape safely. Yet, others do not have this luxury. The escalating situations between these two countries will only continue to affect many lives.
The roots of the Russia-Ukraine turmoil stem from 1991 when Ukraine won independence as the USSR disbanded. Since becoming an independent state, Ukraine has moved closer to the "West" while shedding its Russian background.
Committed to building relations with the west, citizens protested Kremlin-leaning Ukrainian Ex-President Viktor Yanukovych after he rejected an association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties to Russia.
Ukrainian citizens are committed to building relations with the west. As such, they recently protested Ukrainian Ex-President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to reject an association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties to Russia. Russia responded to the mass protests by annexing the Crimean Peninsula and sending troops and weapons to rebel groups antagonizing the Ukrainian government. Moscow denies any involvement with separatist rebel groups.
Onlooking nation-states have tried to broker peace agreements. One such deal was the 2015 peace agreement that helped end large-scale battles. Facilitated by Germany and France, the Minsk peace deal helped bring about an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire along with withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides in the disputed regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.Over time, Russia found that Ukraine failed to honor their peace agreement and claimed that the West failed to ensure Ukrainian compliance. On the other hand, Ukraine pointed to cease-fire violations by Russian-backed rebels and argued that granting separatist states autonomy will disrupt their political harmony.
Currently, Russia claims that Ukraine uses NATO-provided weapons to seize Ukrainian
rebel-held land which is a violation of their previously held peace treaty. Further, Russia calls on NATO members to end their expansion eastwards and to ensure that Ukraine can never join NATO.
Now, Russia has encircled Ukraine along the Russian border, and annexed Crimean, and Belarussian borders.Russian forces number in the tens of thousands, threatening a full invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin explains these escalations are a response to “a threat from the West to its own security.” Analysts highlight the lateness at which Russia announced its military drills as well as the long distance Russian troops have traveled, saying they foreshadow preparation for a real invasion. Contradictingly, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, assured French president, Emmanuel Macron, he would “not be the cause of escalation” in their meeting in Moscow, early February. Putin also demanded for Ukraine to honor the Minsk agreements, saying about Ukraine: “It is your duty, my beauty.”
Despite Macron’s efforts, and Putin’s agreement to not escalate the situation, six Russian warships started their departure to the Black Sea and partook in military exercises on Thursday, February 10th. As of then, Russia had launched military drills in Belarus on its western borders with Lithuania and Poland, and the southern area bordering Ukraine. President Zelensky of Ukraine labels these advancements as psychological pressure,, but the Russian Foreign Minister invalidates these responses, stating they are illogical. Ukraine also launched its own military exercises on February 10th involving drones and anti-tank weapons that were given by Turkey and the U.K., both NATO members.
As tensions increase around the Ukraine border, countries like Germany and France are trying to facilitate a four-way sit down. On the other hand, Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping recently met in Beijing at the start of the Winter Olympics to discuss the current situation in and around Ukraine. Currently, the international community speculates the possibility of international sanctions as a means to protect Ukraine. Some examples of international sanctions are sovereign debt, blocking of banks, targeted export controls andor energy restrictions. Finally, president Biden warns Russia of bank sanctions if they try to invade Ukraine and calls on the European Union to do the same.