Russia has Invaded Ukraine…
As of February 24, 2022, Russia under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine. This began the previous day as Putin recognized the independence of the Donbas region, in Eastern Ukraine and brought “peacekeeping forces” into these regions. The Donbas region in Ukraine has been the site of a proxy war for the last 8 years as Russian separatists (those who support the region breaking away from Ukraine and becoming Russian) and Ukrainian forces have been shelling against each other. Putin’s attempt to randomly now declare this region as independent comes without reason as he has continuously made falsehoods and baseless claims in an attempt to justify this act of aggression; bringing in troops inside of the Donbas region. This was the first act of invasion from Russia. The attack on Ukraine continued as Russia bombed tactical locations inside of Ukraine including the capital of Kyiv.
The United States' position in the situation is to benefit Ukraine as much as possible, without involving themselves in direct conflict. This is because much of this invasion was a result of the continuous teasing of Ukraine by the United States and the UK to join NATO. As a NATO member, Ukraine would be protected completely from Russia as if, any conflict between Ukraine and Russia would result in the involvement of all other NATO nations, resulting in World War III. This clearly is not an option for Ukraine as it would lead to the death of everyone as both the United States and Russia are nuclear superpowers. The offer of joining NATO was never truly on the table for Ukraine.
This is NOT the main problem in the conflict as Russia’s decision to invade as opposed to having a diplomatic discussion is the true issue. This unexpected and poorly decided invasion is not beneficial to any party, including Russia. This is because the invasion of Ukraine not only increases the legitimacy of NATO - which means more countries will wish to join it - and it was negatively viewed by the public as has been seen in anti-war protests throughout Russia. The Russian people are angry that Putin has invaded Ukraine as they will also be harmed by the invasion, as both soldiers and citizens. This is seen through the sanctions that are being placed on Russia by the US. These sanctions will not only hurt the rich oligarchs in Russia but the civilians as well, as the economy will suffer. The sanctions that were placed freeze the assets of many large banks and stop any business with many oligarchs in Russia which would slow the economy heavily. The United States will not sanction Russian energy as they continue to purchase millions of dollars of oil and allow Russia to continue to have its main economic strength. In fact, the US and UK have purchased over $700 million worth of oil, building materials, and other commodities as they pretend to care about the people of Ukraine.
The conflict in Ukraine will continue as United States support for Ukraine continues to come in slow-moving sanctions and military lethal aid. This will not stop Russia’s invasion and imperial ambitions. The US in order to truly help and save the Ukrainian people must place sanctions on Russian energy and natural resources as opposed to supplying them with money by purchasing them, even if these sanctions will hurt the American people and the civilians in other NATO countries that rely on Russian energy resources. This is the cost that war takes, and is the only true way to help the Ukrainian people by crippling the Russian economy to the fullest extent. The only other option is to have diplomatic conversations with Russia and make a deal that allows Russia to have the Donbas region, but to stay out of Ukraine. This will end the invasion and loss of life and will allow for the people of Ukraine to be safe, but this will only come with the assuredness that Ukraine can not join NATO.
