What’s Going On?

Following the pattern of the past 2 years, 2022 has kicked off amid another terrible series of events. Russia, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, has been building up military forces along the border of Ukraine. This is nothing new, the

 Russians and Ukrainians have greatly disliked each other for hundreds of years for a multitude of reasons. Ukraine has wished to join NATO, a military alliance between most of Europe, US and Canada. Russia views this as a threat as NATO has been a historic enemy of Russia and since Ukraine borders Russia, this would be a direct threat to Russian security. Russia has demanded that NATO deny Ukraine’s entry and are building up military forces near Ukraine and in neighboring Belarus. As of February 6, 2022, U.S officials have stated that Russia has 70% of the forces it would need to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Llyod Austin, the U.S Secretary of Defense, has stated that civilian suffering and casualties would be massive. The United States and other European nations want to solve this issue by diplomacy, but Putin has stated its “Western Aggression” that is prompting his response. 

Our Response

The United States and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) want to commit to diplomacy but have assured Ukraine military support. The US has given Ukraine an 80-ton shipment of military supplies and has sent troops to neighboring countries, such as Poland and Romania. Emmanuel Macron, President of France is meeting with Putin as of February 7 2022, in order to try and de-escalate the situation. The meeting was fairly inconclusive, Macron stressed the importance of diplomacy and avoidance of conflict and Putin still claimed that the US and NATO ignored his demands to block Ukraine’s entry into NATO. With the US and NATO backing Ukraine, the ball is very much in Russia’s court, time will only tell when Putin does next.