Russia VS Ukraine
The month of February started like every other cool month. The tempo suddenly changed with Russia’s Vladimir Putin threatening nuclear war. This turn of events can easily serve as a prelude to a post-apocalyptic movie.
Ukraine along with 14
other countries broke off from the old Soviet Union after its collapse in the
early 1990s. Ukraine subsequently shifted ties away from Russia to European and
Western associations. This shift in ties peaked in 2014 when the then President
of Ukraine backed more pro-Russian ties. Within days, Ukrainians moved to the
streets and he was ousted as President. Russia retaliated by invading Ukraine
and annexing Crimea; a part of internationally recognised Ukraine.
Tension heightened in
recent months when Russia expressed concerns that Ukraine's aspirations of
joining North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a red line and Ukraine
should never be allowed to join NATO. NATO is an intergovernmental military
alliance between 28 European countries and 2 North American countries. Though
Ukraine is a sovereign nation, Russia does not want “its enemies” in its
backyard amongst others reasons. Russia then moved about 100,000 troops to its
borders with Ukraine and this has prompted countries to recall their embassy
staff and citizens as this could be a pre-text to all-out war.
The fourth week of
February ushered in another spate of violence. Russia rained a barrage of
missiles on many locations in Ukraine and began a full-ground invasion of the
country. The invading soldiers are on the hunt for the president of Ukraine and
stiff resistance has seen lots of soldiers on both sides losing their lives. Casualties
are also mounting among the civilian population with hundreds of thousands
already displaced. One begins to wonder, why it is that
leaders and authorities in the 21st can not effectively manage
differences without needless deaths.
Umar-Farouq Adebiyi
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