Russian Invasion of Ukraine: A Study
The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has a strong connection with the politics of post — communist world in which one can easily visualize the involvement of international actors such as U.S, European Union, Russia and NATO. All of these seem to be intermingled in this conflict and Ukraine is certainly suffering the most. Many factors can be taken into the account in order to understand the nature, reasons and consequences of this war.
Social and Ethnic Composition of Ukraine
Ukraine was probably second most powerful state amongst all the fifteen republics of the former Soviet Union which separated and became independent states after the disintegration of USSR. After achieving independence in 1991, Ukraine has been facing the challenge of unity of its people who are coming from different ethnic groups. Russians are the second most powerful ethnic groups in Ukraine. Southeast Ukraine particularly comprised of those people who are either ethnic Russians or Russian speaking Ukrainians. These people have strong link with Russia. On the other hand the people who live in the western part of Ukraine are more close to European culture. People belonging to Russian ethnicity are about 17% of Ukrainian population. Apart from Russians there are other small nationalist groups such as Hungarians, Romanians, Belorussians, Bulgarians, Armenians, Polish etc. The major population of Ukraine however, belongs to the local Ukrainian ethnicity.
Early U.S strategy
Some observers believe that after the disintegration of USSR, the U.S developed good relationship with Russia in the hope that Russia will transform itself into a better democratic system and will prove to be its future friend which will ultimately help the U.S in maintaining its leadership in the world after the collapse of communism. By following this policy the U.S did not realize the importance of Ukraine as powerful democratic force in future which would have helped the U.S in establishing its dominance in this region. Instead of helping Ukraine and making it an instrument to counter Russia, the U.S rather did a mistake in the process and supported Russia by helping it to become the inheritor of the USSR. Russia however, announced its intention to welcome the status of Ukraine as an independent nation. The strategy adopted by the U.S proved superficial as Russia again started asserting itself a powerful player in world politics in general and in the region of CIS in particular.
Revolution of Dignity and Annexation of Crimea in 2014
In early 2013 the parliament of Ukraine had approved the political association and free trade agreement with the European Union. However, under Russian pressure the president Yanukovych decided not to sign this agreement later that year. This decision of the president resulted in wide spread protest in Ukraine in 2014 which is also called Euromaidan or simply Maidan Revolution. As a result of the vast mass protest many protesters were killed in a clash with the police. Thousands of people protested before the parliament and many of them were fired by the police. All these resulted in reducing the popularity of the president and increasing the anger of people against him. Ultimately the president the president fled the city and the parliament removed the Yanukovych from the office. The president however, requested help from Russia which resulted in the annexation of Crimea by Russia in February and March 2014 with the support of the pro- Russian ethnic groups, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. President Putin accused the Ukrainian government to use genocide on the Russian speaking people in the Donbas region and therefore, justified the war on Ukraine. In this war thousands of Ukrainians including civilians were killed and millions were forced to leave their home and search another shelters to start their new life with security. On the other hand, the interim government of Ukraine signed the agreement with European Union and sided with their own Ukrainian people. Hence the Revolution of Dignity and Annexation of Crimea are important aspects of the entire conflict going on in this reason which was intimately connected with each other. It apparently reflected the two separate nationalist sentiments in extremely action mode there.
Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022
Once again Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 which has resulted not only in the deaths of thousands of people but according to many observers it has also created a largest refugee crisis after the Second World-War. Russia had already begun a massive buildup of troops and equipment along its border with Ukraine between October and November 2021. Thousands of Russian troops were gathering around Ukraine which was seen as a Russian buildup for further attack on Ukraine. It is believed that Russia was doing all these keeping in mind its demand of the removal of the NATO security umbrella from Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Putin wanted to stop the growing influence of U.S and NATO and therefore he demanded almost a de facto veto power over NATO expansion in these reasons. When these demands of Putin were not accepted he took the further step and recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk which had already proclaimed themselves as independent People’s Republics. Russian were sent in these areas as so called peacekeepers. Special Military Operation were carried in these areas which included the air raids by Russia. Russian attack on Ukraine in 2022 is therefore, regarded as the consequence of the anger of Russia against NATO and the U.S as these groups wanted to expand their influence in the Post- Cold War period.
