On Wednesday, Feb. 24, Vladmir Putin declared a “special military operation” in Ukraine and later took action. In a speech given on Thursday, Putin explains the reasons as to why he has begun to invade Ukraine’s borders. He began his speech by explaining that he had bigger plans than just Ukraine, implying aims to expand further West. His speech was filled with nationalist rage as he made several false claims of Ukrainian aggression against Russian minorities. After explaining how he had unsuccessfully tried to come to agreements with leading NATO countries, he states that the invasion was an effort to stop the West from expanding into Russian territory. To put it in simple terms, Putin views the invasion as a necessary violence due to failed diplomacy over many years. Putin spends a large majority of his speech talking about the conflicts over the last 30 years, trying to expand on the information that the West and NATO nations have been trying to impinge upon Russia’s borders for many years.
President Biden responded to these attacks, saying that “the world will hold Russia accountable.” Action was taken by President Biden by cutting Russia off from Western funding, as well as send troops out to the Baltic States. The troops were said to be sent to reassure our NATO allies and deter any potential violence against NATO nations.
“The war in Ukraine is another breach of the international order established after WWII and serves to further undermine the stability in Europe and beyond. The invasion of Ukraine violates the most fundamental rule in the international politics—the sovereignty of states,” stated Government professor Ronnie Olesker. “In the short term the economic sanctions on Russia will have an impact on US and other economies as well; we are already seeing gas prices rise quickly and they may take weeks to impact the Russian economy to the extent that might change Putin’s calculus,” she states.
Professor Shelley McConnell also gave her input of the situation. “Of course it is a war, but Russia is avoiding that language in part because of the international repercussions, but also because by not calling it a war he implies that the Russian troops have not left Russia,” she says. “From his viewpoint, Ukraine is a longstanding natural part of Russia that just temporarily acted as if it were an independent state, and he insists Russian troops have every right to be there.”
To compare to Olesker’s comments that our economy will and has been impacted, McConnell shares that, “it won’t likely be nuclear war. Ukraine is not worth it to the USA, nor to Russia,” in respects to how this will impact the US.
McConnell provided her thoughts on what impact this conflict will have on a global scale, saying that “arguably all the likely scenarios leave Russia weaker not stronger.” She goes on to explain that the media in Russia is controlled, so there’s a lot of support toward Putin within Russia’s borders. Though the rest of the world can see that this is an unjust war. She explains how Russia could take Ukraine without resorting to an all-out nuclear war and that there will have to be a lot of civilian casualties for Russia to come out of this successfully. “The more civilians who die, the more Russia’s hand is revealed — it becomes clear this is not about reuniting Russians in Ukraine with Russia, it is about seizing a foreign country,” sge says. To look at it a different way: “Another possible outcome is that Russia withdraws. What then?” This option, according to McConnell, could result in Ukraine becoming a part of the EU. She closes by explaining that this has caused NATO to have a “renewed meaning as a defense alliance.”
The citizens of Ukraine are the ones who are fearing for their lives with recent attacks and threats. Ukrainian language teacher Leonid Kolker offered some valuable insight on what it’s like to watch this unfold as someone from Ukraine. “This war is terrible, the war of a blood-thirsty tyrant against a peace-loving nation whose only ‘guilt’ is that it no longer wants to be a slave to the empire and shares values that shaped the West- freedom, human dignity, among others,” he explains that the this impacts him directly as his mother is still in Ukraine. “I am concerned about her life and well-being.” He says “My earnest hope and prayer is that Ukrainian nation triumphs in this war and can live safely in its land.”