March 29, 2024

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Map of Ukraine and Russia: Red Conflict Zones

Map of Ukraine and Russia: Red Conflict Zones

Tensions were once again unleashed on Europe’s eastern borders. near 100,000 Russian soldiers surround Ukraine from three sides. Washington Brussels warns that it will apply Destructive sanctions if Vladimir Putin orders the invasion to its Ukrainian neighbour, as it did in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. Meanwhile, in the midst of several rounds of diplomatic contacts, Moscow I wait for United State and the OTAN Reply in writing to Demands to abort the crisis: A series of commitments to ensure that Ukraine does not join NATO, that NATO stops expanding eastward and that Russia is allowed to recover part of Perimeter effect which it maintained until the fall of the Iron Curtain, an area that must at least include Ukraine and Belarus.

In the last few hours, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr ZelenskyI tried to calm the nerves of its residents by saying that situation “under control” and “don’t panic”. A few words remove the possibility of an imminent invasion, said the Minister of National Security, Oleksiy Danilov. “To this day, we do not believe that the data that speaks of a large-scale military attack against our country has foundations. However, other countries have taken precautions. The United States has ordered the evacuation of its diplomats from the Ukrainian capital, a measure supported in part by the United Kingdom and currently resisted by the European Union.

Ukraine occupied by Russia

At the end of 2013, thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets of several cities to protest against the rejection of the pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovychto sign the Free Trade and Association Agreement with the European Union. Initial protests turned into popular revolution Concentrated in Kiev and baptized as field revolution Which led to the fall of Yanukovych and his government in February 2014.

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Days later, Moscow took a step. Russian troops without insignia to identify them I invaded the Crimeawhich Stalin ceded to Ukraine in 1954, and formed a puppet government carried out A referendum to seal its accession to Russiawhich – which unilateral annexation of the peninsula In March 2014. Western sanctions and the protests of their leaders, who accused Moscow of redrawing the borders of Europe at gunpoint, as was the case in the nineteenth century, were in vain.

This will not be Putin’s only gambit. Crimea was also annexed, Pro-Russian separatist groups Carrying arms in the area Ukrainian Donbass. It did not take long for Russia to provide them with logistical support and weapons, to give way as of May 2014 for Hybrid War With the deployment of thousands of paramilitaries in the region and psychological warfare tactics and disinformation. Although Russia has not formally occupied the region, the ongoing war so far has left more than 14,000 dead.

NATO expansion to the east

From The collapse of the Soviet Union and break up Warsaw Pactmany countries that were part of the Russian sphere of influence were leaning towards the West and joining the European Union and OTANwhich has practically doubled in size since the 1990s. PolandAnd Hungary and the Czech Republic They were the first ex-Soviet republics to join NATO in 1998, just one year later Bill Clinton s Boris Yeltsin It agreed that the former Warsaw Pact countries could freely choose to join NATO.

This expansion has always been a concern put it inWho witnessed how the US-led NATO forces approaching the Russian border, Along the way thwarted his plans to re-establish the Russian sphere of influence. The former KGB officer also asserts that NATO had betrayed a previous promise not to expand eastward, a commitment many historians deny. Determined now to stop this dynamic, Putin demands guarantees That Ukraine will never become part of the alliance and will never deploy weapons on Ukrainian soil that endanger Russian security.

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at the top of NATO contract in Bucharest in 2008, NATO was open to integrating Ukraine, as well as Georgia, into the military organization. Putin described the announcement as a A direct threat. Since then, little progress has been made in this direction. USA President , Joe Bidenhe said a few days ago that ” The possibility of Ukraine joining NATO In the short term it is very unlikely.

Russian forces encircle Ukraine

Alarms began to go off in December, when various satellite images revealed that Russia had located it More than 350 military vehicles In an abandoned ammunition depot in a Russian town Klintsy, near the northern Ukrainian border. Since then the concern has grown. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Russia has 127,000 soldiers stationed along the border From its neighbor, the largest country in Europe in terms of area, to which tanks and heavy weapons must be added.

those forces Surrounding Ukraine from the north, south and easta publication, according to US intelligence, was accompanied by Preparing military plans for a possible invasion In which 175,000 soldiers will participate. Russia denies it is looking for a pretext to launch a military offensive, although its forces have been conducting military exercises on the Ukrainian border for weeks.

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