What is going on in Ukraine, an unbiased explanation.

By Amir Dadashov

What is going on in Ukraine? That’s the question many people (notably those who are teenagers now but were too young at the beginning of this situation to understand what was happening) are asking themselves. Well, for those of you curious souls scouring the internet for a reasonable explanation of the conflict not flooded to its knees in agendas or ideologies, here’s an unbiased explanation of the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Firstly, the basics. Russia and Ukraine are two nation states located in the east of Europe (though Russia’s borders stretch out all the way to east Asia as well). Historically speaking they have had a close, fraternal relationship. Ukraine has a large Russian speaking population. The two nations were in the Soviet Union together, and of the eight soviet leaders, three of them were ethnically Ukrainian. Before that, Ukraine (though not the western-most regions) was part of the Russian empire. The two nations’ histories are intertwined all the way back to the mediaeval kingdom of Kievan Rus, the father of both modern Russia and Ukraine. The capital of this kingdom was (as you might have guessed) Kiev. But, Ukraine also has its own language, its own culture and (since 1991) a history completely independent of that of it’s Russian neighbour. 

So what happened? Well, it is not a controversial statement to say that the Russian government has had an icy relationship with its ex-Soviet neighbours, particularly, its ex-Soviet neighbours that are trying to distance themselves from Russia and move closer to Europe. Georgia is a good example of a democratic nation that borders Russia, a former Soviet state that, in the 2000s, began trying to move closer to Europe. Rumours spread in the early 2010s that Georgia wanted to join the E.U (an alliance of European democracies). Also in the 2010s, Russia recognised the independence of two separatist regions in northern Georgia, including South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Then, Russia began military operations in northern Georgia. Many people have drawn parallels between the situation that happened in Georgia and what is now happening in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, since the election of popular president Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine has (like Georgia) been trying to move closer to Europe, and rumours began to circulate about Ukraine gaining membership of N.A.T.O. Then, in recent days, Russia again recognised two separatist republics, but this time, in Ukraine (Donetsk and Luhansk). This recognition was again followed by the beginning of military operations by the Russian army in Ukraine.

That brings us up to speed. Though if you have to take a single point from this article, let it be this: no matter what emotions you feel about the nations involved in this issue, you have to remember that governments do not ask the people before making decisions, and do not ask the people before taking military action. So, whatever emotions you do have – do not direct them at the people of the nation you feel these said emotions towards. The people are not the government and the government is not the people.