What We Know About The Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Tensions are mounting between Russia and Ukraine as NATO allies fear an invasion is imminent. Source: Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels
Tensions between the Russian Federation, Ukraine and NATO member nations have escalated since the start of this year.
The conflict that has come to a head within the last few weeks stemmed from the Spring of 2021 and has escalated until the present where diplomatic efforts are in progress to keep a Russian invasion of the Ukraine at bay.
This situation has continued to develop rapidly since the start of 2022 causing widespread concerns about a potential war. Here is what we know as of now:
In the beginning of January, the Russian Deputy Foriegn Minister Sergei Ryabkov told U.S officials that there was no plan on behalf of the Russians to invade Ukraine. However, on Jan. 23, the State Department ordered that all family members of those working at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine leave due to fears of an invasion of the Ukraine on behalf of the Russians. The following day, NATO placed troops on standby with the U.S. ordering troops to be ready for deployment, according to NPR.
Two days later on Jan. 26, both U.S. and NATO representatives gave President Putin their written responses which indicated that NATO cannot bar Ukraine from joining NATO, but the allies are willing to discuss smaller issues.
In February, diplomatic talks with European leaders continued, and President Biden ordered the deployment of 2,000 troops to Poland and Germany after moving 1,000 troops from Germany to Romania. On Feb.10, Russia and Belarus held joint military exercises with 30,000 Russian troops ordered to the northern Ukrainian border.
With a sense of escalation and fears regarding the possibility of an invasion, Biden advised that all Americans in Ukraine should leave on Feb.10, and the next day, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that an invasion could occur at any time. In the following days on Feb.14, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv closed, and operations were moved west to Lviv due to the build up of Russian troops near Ukraine.
On Feb.15, Putin announced that some Russian troops were going to begin pulling back, and while he claimed he is open to dialogue with the West, the U.S. has not been able to confirm a pullback of Russian troops. Biden gave a speech on Feb.14 where he said that the U.S. is looking at giving diplomacy “every chance” to avoid a Russian invasion, but he remains skeptical of the intentions of the Russians, according to AP.
Ukraine also saw its largest cyberattack ever on Feb.15 which targeted the defense ministry and army websites, and also hit the two largest banks in the nation as well. This attack was designed to disrupt access to these websites, called a denial-of-service attack (DDoS). This information was released as there were an estimated 150,000 Russian troops along the Ukraine border.
As of Feb.16, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has said that there has been no evidence of a Russian pullback from Ukraine’s borders, and Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary-General of NATO, said that there are plans to deploy further troops in Eastern Europe as there has been no sign of Russian de-escalation, according to Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera also reports that the DDoS cyberattack that hit several Ukrainian online services has ties to Russia according to Illya Vityuk, head of the cybersecurity department of the Security Service of Ukraine.
Tensions still appear to be ramping even as talks of diplomacy and a potential Russian military pullback are ongoing. As it stands now, the West is voicing concern over the likelihood of a Russian invasion. Over the coming days and weeks, the situation is bound to change.