Russia holds a unique place in the world. It is the largest country in the world in terms of land area. Russia’s history includes many prosperous medieval kingdoms and, now, is a large country with an expansionist dictator, Vladimir Putin. Glossing over the large chunks of pre-industrial Russian history, the Tsarist dynasties brutally ruled Russia until a popular communist revolution brought down the rule of the Tsars and implemented revolutionary changes to the average Boris. 

Immediately after the end of World War One (1918), the soon-to-be-Ukraine had been lobbying for independence, and in 1918, it received independence, but parts of its modern-day borders were under the control of Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia before WWII. Ukraine was reabsorbed into Russia in 1922 as a part of the USSR for the rest of the 20th century and, thus, the entirety of WWII and the Cold War. 

Jumping to 1990-1991, as the USSR shattered, and when the Cold War came to an end, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian S.S.R) declared full sovereignty, essentially becoming their own territory. 

Once the USSR finally collapsed, Ukraine became fully independent, and they removed the S.S.R part of its name, becoming the country that we know today. Shortly after its independence, they helped establish the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).

Of course, when Russia got their fragments together, they weren’t really happy with Ukraine leaving. Ukraine wasn’t exactly the only country to leave the USSR during its collapse, and Vladimir Putin still considers countries like Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia in its sphere of influence. 

But Russia had many domestic issues to deal with. As much as they wanted to reintegrate those countries, they had to deal with their more pressing concerns. When they controlled their domestic problems in 2014, Russia launched a series of invasions to stop Ukraine from joining NATO, claiming national security issues, and that was based on an outdated definition of sovereignty. 

After a shaky ceasefire, they continued their assault in 2022, with the February offensive, forcing Ukraine to fight on 6 fronts. Landmarks and civilian areas have been the focus of the Russian offensive to decrease morale in Ukraine. 

But Ukraine fights on, and even Russian citizens are taking action against the war, putting themselves at risk for imprisonment.

Of course, national defense is difficult, so go ahead and Support Ukraine at https://www.supportukraine.co/. They need supplies and help to protect their country! Go ahead and make donations to the charities listed at that site.

Conrad Stands With Ukraine!

Sources:https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine Why is Russia invading Ukraine and what does Putin want? – BBC News