The Real Reason Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.
In 2010, Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych was elected President of Ukraine. The West (the United States and the European Union) were displeased by the events because the new president was perceived to be too allied to Russia.
Ukraine had been working on a free trade agreement with the EU before Yanukovych’s election. Yanukovych, on the other hand, revised his stance in 2013 and refused to sign the treaty, preferring stronger ties with Russia.
In November 2013, the US orchestrated a “color revolution” (called “Euromaidan”) in Ukraine, which was led by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland and culminated in a coup. Yanukovych was ousted.
Opponents accuse him of having enriched himself, his family and cronies while in power.
The leaders of eastern Ukraine have reaffirmed their allegiance to Yanukovych. In February 2014, this provoked anti-government protests as well as a referendum in Crimea, where 97 percent of voters voted to return Crimea to Russia. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.
Meanwhile, a bill to abolish Russian as an official language was introduced by the new Ukrainian government, which was formed just after the coup. Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine were outraged, claiming that ethnic Russians were in extreme peril.
Earlier in 2014, Russia began providing assistance to Russians in eastern Ukraine (Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, and Odessa) who have been seeking independence from Ukraine.
In April 2014, the predominantly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence from Ukraine and declared themselves independent republics.
Russia initiated military maneuvers on the eastern Ukrainian border in early 2014, while NATO conducted similar tasks in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, all of which border Russia.
In September 2014, Ukraine and Russia struck ceasefire agreements in Minsk, Belarus, to cease hostilities in eastern Ukraine.
Notwithstanding the Minsk agreements, continuous territorial clashes in the Donbas region have been persistent since 2014, in violation of the agreements, between Ukrainian forces and separatists from Luhansk and Donetsk.
In addition to the armed conflict, Russia has been sanctioned internationally by the EU and the US. The restrictions caused the Russian currency to depreciate, bringing economic harm to EU nations. By 2016, Russia had lost an estimated $600 billion.
According to a UN report published in 2017, Russian sanctions cost the EU countries around “3.2 billion dollars each month.”
In March 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the Russian military to deploy troops near the Ukrainian border and in Crimea. In November, Russia dispatched ships to the Black Sea to “observe” US warships. Putin said that the US ships constituted a “serious challenge.”
In November 2021, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced, “The actual objective of US actions in the Black Sea region is to examine the theater of operations in case Kyiv seeks to resolve the situation in the southeast by force.”
The US began announcing that Russia would invade Ukraine in mid-January 2022, asserting that an attack may occur before the end of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.
In January 2022, NATO began supplying Ukraine with weapons, including anti-armor missiles and other US-made weapons. On January 22, the US delivered 90,000 kg of dangerous weapons to Ukraine. The Netherlands and Spain also committed troops to the region in support of NATO.
To bolster NATO’s presence in Europe, the US sent troops to Germany and Poland, as well as F-15 fighter jets to Romania, in February. In addition, the United Kingdom deployed troops, cruisers, and fighter jets to Eastern Europe.
On February 21, the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics requested that Putin acknowledge their independence. Putin agreed, signing a document declaring the republics and directing troops to be sent there.
On February 22, Boris Johnson imposed sanctions on Russian banks and individuals. Germany has halted the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
EU foreign ministers blacklisted all Russians who voted in favor of recognizing separatist territories.
On February 24, 2022, President Putin announced the start of a “special military operation” in the Donbass region. So that’s where we’re at the moment.
