Ukraine has been a sovereign nation ever since it declared independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991. However, Putin claims that Russians and Ukrainians are one people and although they might not integrate, Ukraine should not be signing a deal with the European Union (EU) and joining NATO; in other words, although the Soviet Union collapsed about 30 years ago, Putin is strictly against Ukraine gradually allying with the “Western powers” since he still believes in the “historical Russia”.

On February 24th, 2022, an incident that everyone has been dreading occurred: Russia launched a full-scale assault on Ukraine, officially starting the invasion, or the “special military occupation”, according to Russia. Among the various factors, there are 2 main demands that Russia is trying to achieve through this invasion. They want Ukraine to recognize Crimea as part of Russia and also want Ukraine to assure that they would not join Nato and the EU by changing their constitution; this implies that what Russia might be fearing is Nato’s expansion to the east.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/28/ukraine-what-we-know-on-day-five-of-russias-invasion

Before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin even requested Nato to remove its forces in the member states that joined Nato in 1997; most of them are located in Central/Eastern Europe and the Baltics, which shows how Putin sees Nato’s eastern expansion as a potential threat. Nato simply disregarded his request. What Ukraine currently wants is a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops in Ukraine, but considering that Russia is determined to not make any negotiations until Ukraine accepts their demand, the conflict doesn’t seem like it would end any time soon.

Although Ukraine is not a member of Nato, the Western powers are enforcing sanctions that can virtually attack Russia in support of Ukraine. For example, by the US banning Russian imports of oil and gas, Russia’s economy is already faltering; and that is merely one example. The democratic Western powers collectively supporting each other in opposition to and in defense of the certain power that they view as a threat is not an unprecedented event. Considering that, it is crucial to observe the potential powers that can join the Russian force because if they ever do, the Russian invasion of Ukraine might lead to a second cold war.

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