WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO UKRAIN?

The Ukrainian Invasion

 

To fully understand the invasion of Ukraine, we will have to delve deeper into the history of the relations between Russia and Ukraine. In 1991, Ukraine (later to be named, Ukraine) declared independence from the Soviet Union, making it free from the control of Moscow, which had been ongoing for 70 years until that point. A decade later, the president of Russia – Vladimir Putin begins his reign over Russia, and the Ukrainian declaration of independence was the source of conflict between the two states. Vladimir Putin has always believed that the sovereignty of Ukraine is misplaced and invalid and that Ukraine belongs to Russia. He is often cited to claim that the two countries are “brothers” and that they should be brought back together.

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Vladimir Putin goes on to discredit the validity of the Ukrainian state, but there is no physical conflict until 2014. The Eastern Ukrainian region of Crimea is annexed in 2014, and this triggered the “special military operation” of Russia in Eastern Ukraine, which resulted in the War of Donbas. The result of this war was the illegal and hostile occupation of Ukrainian Crimea by the Russian militia and a feud between the brother states.

 

After the occupation of Crimea, the Russian government have carried out multiple attacks on Ukraine, which have been ongoing until the present day. These attacks have led up to the Ukrainian Invasion that has started on the 24th of February, 2022. This attack on Ukraine has been considered the largest attack on a European country since World War II.

 

The ongoing invasion of Ukraine has caused over 20 000 fatalities and has leftover 10 000 000 people displaced. This is motivation enough for Western powers to classify this as an attack against humanity, but the people making this claim cannot do anything about it, without causing further damage. This is because most Western powers belong to NATO, which is a group of countries that have signed a treaty after the Second World War to protect each other in situations of military conflict. Ukraine might not be an official member, but members of NATO such as the United States and the United Kingdom stand with Ukraine, but words of support and ammunition are all they can provide to the country because if they do send troops to Ukraine, the third World War will be triggered. With the prevention of war being on the agenda, these superpowers cannot send help to their ally.

 

What about South Africa? How does this affect us?

 

South Africa is considered to be one of the safest countries to reside, in terms of our geopolitical stance, because we have no military allies or enemies. Albeit us being in a financial relationship with Russia (in the form of BRICS), we have no political affiliation to them. This means that even if a World War had to break out, our involvement is less than likely.

 

The most we can do is pray for the affected people in this situation, not only in Ukraine but in Afghanistan and Palestine too. Safety is a human right, and an invasion is an infringement of that.