Putin’s Intensions
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged not to attack Ukraine for months, the world was shocked on Thursday when Putin ordered his troops to launch a special military operation in Ukraine’s Donbas region. Putin says he doesn’t want to occupy Ukraine; he just wants to deweaponize it. Military experts are of the view that Russia’s invasion could jeopardize Europe’s entire security structure.

Ukraine’s Strategic Importance
Ukraine’s location is crucial from a strategic standpoint. The country shares borders with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the south; and the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea to the south.

When Did Ukraine Declare Independence?
Ukraine, a country of 44 million people, officially declared independence on 24 August 1991, when the communist Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine would no longer follow the laws of the USSR.

Despite Putin’s pledges, the West believes Moscow is planning an imminent, new invasion of Ukraine as the latest satellite photos show Russian troops besieging Ukraine at the border. Reports of tanks arriving in separatist-controlled Donetsk and sounds of explosions in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and other parts of the country have further escalated the situation.

Without going into further details, Let’s try to explain the Russia-Ukraine feud in just 7 points:

The tensions between Russia and Ukraine went out of control when in January last year Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged US President Joe Biden to use his influence to let Ukraine join NATO.
Last spring, Russia started a military exercise near the Ukrainian border and increased its military presence in autumn as a way to teach Ukraine a lesson. The US warned Russia in December to impose sanctions if it invaded Ukraine.
According to Vladimir Putin, Ukraine is a puppet of the West, and it wants a legally binding guarantee that NATO will not conduct military activities in eastern Europe and Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine have not been at odds for the first time since the end of the Cold War. In 2014, rebels backed by President Putin had taken control of large swathes of eastern Ukraine, and they have since been fighting the Ukrainian army.
To end the armed conflict in east Ukraine, including the Donbas region, Russia and Ukraine had signed the Minsk peace accord. Meanwhile, Russia says it is sending peacekeepers to the area where the conflict is brewing. It is viewed as a smokescreen by the West to occupy sovereign territory.
With Russia’s latest “adventure”, the European Union (EU) can no longer remain oblivious to the situation, and it has announced that it will join the US in imposing sanctions against Russian entities.
French President Emmanuel Macron, just weeks ago, flew to Moscow to talk to President Putin to reduce tensions but to no avail.

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What Putin has in Mind?

Joe Biden, the US president said: “We believe they are going to target Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, home to 2.8 million innocent people.”
There is no doubt in the West that Russian forces could sweep across Ukraine from the east, north, and south and try to topple its democratically elected government. It is possible for the Russians to mobilize troops in Crimea, Belarus, and around Ukraine’s eastern borders.

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What the West Can Do?

As NATO’s allies have stated clearly that they do not plan to send combat troops to Ukraine, Ukraine is left to fight Russia alone. Instead, they have offered advice, weapons, and field hospitals to Ukraine.

The West will respond to Russia with sanctions:

Germany has halted approval of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a major investment by both European and Russian companies

The EU has agreed to broad sanctions that include 351 MPs who backed Russia’s “illegal decision” to recognize the rebel-held regions as independent states in parliament.

Russia’s government is being cut off from western financial institutions and high-ranking “elites” are being targeted, according to the US.

The UK has targeted five major Russian banks and three billionaires.

More severe sanctions are in the offing.