Ukraine Russia have had a combination of chaos and calm for years now. To think that this war is the beginning of the history of a clash between this two is absolutely wrong. Russia and Ukraine has a far more complicated history than we assume when we look at the Tv news screen.
If we trace to ancient pages of history, we can go back to the 9th century where both Ukraine and Russia drew their lineage from. Slavic people drew their lineage from a place called Kievan Rus, at that time Kiev was the capital. After that there has been a long history of tension between the two but fast forward to the 1900’s the two were again under a consistent calm when both flourished as industrial and agricultural bases for the Soviet Union. But things again started to complicate as soon as the USSR collapsed. After the collapse Ukraine inherited much of the Soviet Union arsenal but gave it all up to Russia after in exchange of Moscow providing compensation. US also promised its assistance to Ukraine. US also promised to provide security assistance after Ukraine joined the NPT. Soon in 1994 both Russia and Ukraine joined the collaboration arrangement by NATO for all the nonmember European states and the post-Soviet territories. But in 2014 NATO formally severed the ties with Russia followed by which Russia have been critical about the eastern expansion of NATO. 1994 also marked the eventful agreement of Budapest Memorandum where Russia promised to recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine. After this in the initial years of 2000’s, Ukraine saw a very concerning case of political crisis. There was a huge reel of agreements and opposition with the leaders of the 2 countries. A big corruption scandal break out after the questionable evidence against the Russian leader. Followed by this 2004 saw a big power struggle between the Yushchenko government and the Yanukovych supporters but the former wins followed by the iconic orange revolution in the streets of Ukraine against the pro-Moscow leader and its supporters. But soon after Russia retaliated with the gas ban and the following economic crisis surrounded the country of Ukraine the government toppled. The ensuing crisis is then followed by the 2008 Georgian invasion where the then Ukranian leader sided with Georgia. Things started changing from this point. After there were talks about the Eu and Ukraine having a association agreement, the political situation of Ukraine changes tremendously as the “pro-Moscow” Yanukovych government comes to power. Followed by a few more questionable events, the Yanukovych government cancels the agreement with EU which leads to the landmark protests of Euromaidan which led to its name of “Independence square”.
The beginning
2014 marked the first event which spiraled in with a new shape in the final page of 2022. Russia goes on to annex Crimea. Now it has a history too. In 1954 Crimea was transferred from Russia to Ukraine but was given a special autonomy in Ukraine. The Russian military base was allowed to be there. In 2014, Russia also extended its support to the separatists in the area of Donetsk and Luhansk, but the Ukranian government didn’t launch a direct offensive until the Malaysia airlines gun down of 17th July by the separatists. Followed by this Ukraine launches an offensive and the separatists were given direct help by Russia. Soon the west meddled and the Minsk agreements were signed where the ceasefire and military withdrawal was directed. Fast forward to 2022, we all now have noted that peace was never achieved but the 8 years was just the calm before the storm. With Russia’s growing security demands against USA and NATO and its growing influence in the Luhansk and Donetsk region- together the Donbas region, the world did deduct a potential risk in the world diplomacy. The war broke out after for many day Moscow considered the Zelensky government as a “puppet regime”. After the attacks on Kiev marking the official beginning of the war, the world faced a massive tumult. The geopolitical and the financial implications that this war had were irreversible but after it ended the world sighed in relief, but as history has directed us, the peace between the two are always questionable
Is Putin’s claim true?
the demands of Putin of the two being one and Ukraine belonging to Russia still stands questioned as the history speaks other words. The constant drainage of ethic Ukrainians throughout the span of 1700 to 1940 including the massacre of 1934 very prominently show that the eastern Ukraine connecting with Russian culture and ideologies has been planned for many years now with the constant replacepement of ethnic Ukrainians with the ethnic Russians. Coming back to present day, the recent developments in the Kharkiv region and the Russian retaliation in the form of the recent flood has shown the world that the short period of calm is again at the verge of destruction. With the world stage again changing its texture, is this a beginning to an end or is this just another page of geopolitical history?
