Thursday February 24th 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with the intent on taking back the land once lost decades prior. The actions of Vladimir Putin have devastated hundreds of families so far, with no sign of letting up anytime soon.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, 15 states separated and became independent from Russia. Following this, a Warsaw Pact was made to eliminate any conflict between the states involved, which included Russia, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Although Russia had lost a lot of land they still had access to the places within the Warsaw Pact, thus reducing the chances of an attack from NATO. The only points NATO had as an advantage were the Sudan mountains, the black sea, and a narrow line of the North European plain located in East Germany. However all of these points could be easily defended by Moscow making them useless to NATO.
Over the course of 30 years, all of the former Warsaw Pact members joined NATO besides Russia which created the CSTO alongside Belarus and Armenia. This greatly helped push NATO’s front line east and across the wider north European plain. This also created a split between Russia, as the city of Kaliningrad was now disconnected from Belarus via the Sulkava Way now owned by NATO. Belarus is on the Russian border and now Russians will have to go through Belarus and then through the Sulkava Way to get to Kaliningrad. This exposed the Russians and NATO could easily circle them in the Sulkava Way and defeat them, giving NATO an advantage over the CSTO in any future conflict.
With this in mind, it becomes clear why Russia would want to take control of Ukraine. If Russia had Ukraine this would push CSTO’s front line to the Carpathian Mountains which would only leave them exposed at the eastern border of Poland. This would give Russia a huge advantage in case of a conflict. However, if Ukraine were to join NATO, then their front lines would be well past the Carpathian Mountains and across a great section of the North European plain which is very hard to defend. That would also put NATO incredibly close to Volgograd, and if that was taken by NATO it would cut Russia off from their gas and oil resources they obtain from the Volga river which is connected to the Caspian sea.
This conflict has been on-going for over two weeks now without a breakthrough, even after another round of communication between Russia and Ukraine. The Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Congress yesterday, March 16th. He expressed that Russia has not only attacked their city, but they have attacked Ukranian human rights and key values. Zelensky wants Americans to understand the state of emergency that Ukraine is in, and he even relates the ongoing situation to Pearl Harbor (a point in time where America was under attack). Zelensky wants to keep his people safe, and to do that, there needs to be a no-fly zone over Ukraine, or at least another reassurance of safety. He proposed an association U-24 for peace, and he is hoping the United States agrees because it would provide assistance to those who are affected by natural disasters. Aside from the message to Congress, Biden has been expected to give his approval for over $800 million worth of military aid. For now, Ukraine will continue to receive weapons from NATO and the U.S. Additionally, Zelensky has requested that more leaders visit Kyiv, and he plans to make nightly posts on social media to collect international support for Ukraine. Ukraine is not yet safe from Russian air-crafts, but Volodymyr Zelensky has urged other world leaders to visit his city.
596 people have died, 43 of them being children, and 2.5 million people have been forced to move after the attack from Moscow. The people of Ukraine have been fleeing to Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary to try and stay safe from Russian attacks.
We have already started to see the affects of this war here in the US and throughout the war. The biggest affect we’ve seen here is rising gas prices, which only partially have to do with the ban on Russian oil and natural gas. Experts say that Americans will be experiencing “uncomfortably high” gas prices through at least labor day. However, European countries have been hit especially hard. Their economy is also suffering the affects of cutting off Russian oil and natural gas. But, they are also dealing with a massive influx of refugees from Ukraine. The direct attack on civilian areas has created a humanitarian crisis that has left Europe to pick up the pieces.
Most of us have seen the tear-jerking images of Polish citizens waiting on the border to accept refugees into their homes. These are people they have never met, who most likely don’t speak the same language, who they are offering they are offering their homes to. A train station in Berlin was filled with the same thing. At a train station in Poland, Polish mothers left empty strollers for Ukrainian mothers to take when they arrived. The war has definitely brought Europe together in unity against this awful situation.
Because of China’s position in this was, the US should expect a cut in ties with the country. Tensions between our two nations have been rising over the past few years after many failed discussions on global trade. China is a global trade powerhouse, with about $2.5 trillion in exports in 2019 alone. While the relationship between the US and China will continue to be strained, this war is sure to have a major impact on trade throughout the world. However, because of the size of China’s market and their deep connections throughout the global market, it is unlikely that they will completely break away from every country who has shown their support for Ukraine.
Just when you thought the supply-chain madness couldn’t get worse, it did. Many mail carriers have cut off shipments to and from Russia.It’s not just shipments from Russia, but also shipments to Russia. One of the largest ocean carrier companies have halted all shipments into Russia. This has created a build-up of goods in European ports that were supposed to be bound for Russian ports. This has created congestion in the shipping centers that now affects other shipments to completely different countries.
After weeks of protests from Russian citizens that has resulted in thousands of arrests, they have made it clear that they are not in support of this war, or “special operations” as they are only allowed to address this conflict as. Unfortunately, their economy has also been hit hard because of the decisions made by their President. The Moscow Stock Market has been closed since the beginning of the war, major banks have disallowed the movement of Russian money across the border, and many brands have cut off the business in their Russian locations. Europe and other countries signing themselves with Ukraine have created “unprecedented financial sanctions”. Russia has also cut off most sources of communication from the outside world for their citizens. Most social media sites, such as Facebook, have been blocked to keep Russian citizens in the dark.
The Editorial Staff stands with Ukraine. Innocent Ukrainian civilians are being killed every day because of one’s man need for absolute power. It is almost impossible to imagine the horrors they are dealing with currently. Below is a list of ways you can help.
https://donate.wck.org/give/393234#!/donation/checkout
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/ukraine-crisis-relief-fund/
https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/europe-central-asia/ukraine
https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/ukraine?cid=Paid_Search%3AGoogle_Paid%3AEmer_Ukraine%3ANonbrand%3A022422&s_kwcid=AL%219048%213%21584222768599%21e%21%21g%21%21help+ukraine&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAiA9tyQBhAIEiwA6tdCrN5J3JtK0-fyWIFjL_0FIsC