Ukrainian civilian death toll: 1,581 dead since the start of the invasion

Ukrainian troop death and wounded toll: Approximately 1,300 dead (according to president Zelensky)

Russian troop death and wounded toll: Over 13,000 dead (according to President Zelensky) and 498 dead, 1,597 wounded (according to Russia)

The Background 

The Russian and Ukrainian war is debated on how it has started. However, the first armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia dates to 2013. Protests have erupted in the capital city of Kyiv due to President Viktor Yanukovych rejecting an economic integration deal with the European Union. Although, an attempt to stop the protests only worsened them after trying to stop it has been violent. The president fled the country as a result.

Russian troops took this as an opportunity to take control of the Crimean region in Russia in February of 2014. The Russian Federation successfully annexed that region. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin states that there is a major need to protect ethnic Russian citizen speakers in Crimea and southeast Ukraine. Although, many believe this is just an excuse to invade Ukraine. The buildup of Russian-backed troops has added to the thousands of innocent deaths.

So Why Did Putin Recently Invade Ukraine?

You could argue many different reasons why Putin invaded Ukraine. The claim Putin made on TV was that he did not feel Russia was “safe” near Ukraine. Putin says he aims to stop the genocide, “Nazification” and “militarization” of Ukraine. Which is ironic since there is no known genocide to be going on in the country, and that President Zelensky is Jewish.

It is to be believed by many people that Russia invaded Ukraine to reconstitute the Soviet Union and to gain more power. Including that Russia wants to overthrow the current government in Ukraine and set up a pro-Russian government.

Putin himself has mentioned the threat of nuclear forces if the West “gets in his way” or attempts to retaliate against him, directly on Russia.

What Has Been Going on During the Invasion

Immediately after a war against Ukraine has been declared, bombs and explosions have erupted all throughout the cities. Air raid sirens roared through the day and night and Ukrainians have been displaced from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have moved to neighboring countries such as Poland. But since the Russian invasion began, over two million people fled Ukraine.

Men from the ages of 18 to 60 have been called to fight in the war, resulting in many people being separated from their families. Many soldiers on both sides of the war have already been killed, and that includes innocent civilians too.

Russia is attempting to take over the capital Kyiv, but Russian soldiers have been met with great resistance from Ukrainian soldiers. People with no experience as a soldier or in the military have volunteered to fight as well, once again proving the serious resistance Ukrainian civilians have.

Russia has taken complete control of the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine: Zaporizhzhya. It was shelled after a fire started from Russian troops. Fortunately, nothing serious happened, but if something did happen, the destruction could have been just as bad as Chernobyl–or even worse. Although, Russia’s defense ministry blamed the attack on Ukrainian saboteurs. Russian forces have even disconnected the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from the country’s electricity grid.

Even some Russian troops have been captured and admitted to being completely untrained and being told to fight in a war without proper instruction. Many Russian soldiers are young, and don’t know what they are doing. You can go as far as to say that a lot of them don’t want to fight and kill others.

In a recent airstrike attack on Ukraine, Russian forces have destroyed a Mariupol hospital complex that left 17 people injured. A U.S. journalist, Brent Renaud, was killed by Russian forces on March 13th. Kyiv police claim that another American journalist was wounded by Russian troops.

There have been talks between the two sides of the war and they have become more “constructive” as a fourth round of peace negotiations started.

War becomes more and more serious as Russia says ships that transport weapons to Ukraine could be considered “legitimate military targets”. Any form of help through weaponry or the military may cause dangerous backlash on anyone who is providing military aid towards Ukraine.

The Ukrainian parliament says that Russia installed a new mayor for the southern port city of Melitopol, which was a day after the previous elected mayor was allegedly kidnapped by Russian forces.

Russia has opened recruitment centers in Syria, Serbia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and possibly Libya to replenish more troops for an offensive against Ukraine.

What the United States – Other Countries Have Done

The UE, UK, US, Japan, and Canada have all cut off Russia from Swift, the international bank network that is used to transfer money across borders. President Biden has imposed personal sanctions directly on President Putin and Sergei Lavrov, the Foreign Minister. 

Germany halted any major investments that included Russia. State-run media news sources in Russia have been banned across the European Union and the Russian city of St. Petersburg is no longer allowed to host the Champions League Final.

Even Switzerland, who has had a tradition of being neutral, broke their neutrality to sanction Russia (the sanctions that were adopted from the EU). Ultimately, Russia’s unprovoked and unprecedented attack on Ukraine was the deciding factor. Though after, Russia’s air transport agency closed its airspace to Switzerland as a “retaliatory” move for the sanctions.

President Biden has banned Russian oil imports, and warned that gas prices will continue to rise. As a result of the war, gas prices have had a major effect in the United States. In some cities gas prices rose up to over $4 per gallon and went as far as to go up to $9 in heavily populated cities in California. This becomes a major problem, because the United States isn’t well known for their public transit. If people can’t afford gas prices, they won’t be able to go from destination A to destination B.

On March 12th, President Biden announced that he authorized $200 million in additional defense assistance for Ukraine. Congress also approved a bill that contained $13.6 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine where half was split into humanitarian and security assistance.

Now even if it doesn’t seem like it, NATO plays a big part in this war. If a country that is a member of NATO is attacked, they will be forced to engage in warfare. However, as the war spreads out, there have been talks about NATO countries getting involved. Because Ukraine has been in consideration about joining the military alliance, one of Putin’s demands were that they don’t join NATO.

Some people have opinions on NATO and claim that they don’t do anything; but if NATO doesn’t do anything, why wouldn’t Putin want to be surrounded by NATO member countries? Perhaps he understands the repercussions if he does do something that would be considered violating Article 5, which states, “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.”

In my opinion, I believe Putin has been planning on attacking Ukraine. He knew what problems would have ensued if Ukraine became a member country, and that’s why he demanded they don’t become one.

Considering Putin’s threats and the consequences, world leaders must be careful with what they do.

Reactions From People Around the World

International protests have started as the war continued to flare out. Countries from all over the world have roared out in support of Ukraine’s freedom. Spain, Japan, Israel, India, UK, and some states in the US. Even in Russia, there have been anti-war protests, which resulted in the arrest of over 14,000 civilians.

As the war persists, it’s only getting worse.

SOURCES:

Conflict in Ukraine, Global Conflict Tracker

Conflict-ukraine

BBC News,

world-europe-56720589