Will Russia go to war with Ukraine?
All week you've heard numerous answers to this question in Ukraine 71 of the people believe their country is already at war with Russia this is a complex crisis and all the answers are hidden in history did you know there was a time when kier was more powerful than Moscow there was also a time when Ukraine and America were adversaries tonight we'll bring you all these stories we will tell you why Russian president Vladimir Putin is obsessed with Ukraine I'm palki Sharma Madhya and this is gravitas plus we begin in the ninth century there was a state called Kevin ruse this is where it was located the Slavic people lived here the city of Kyiv was their capital between 980 and 1015 the Kevin ruse was ruled by grand prince Volodymyr in Russian his name is Vladimir in Ukrainian Volodymyr and as fate would have it these are also the names of the presidents of these two countries.
Today anyway Russians Ukrainians and better Russians draw their lineage from this Slavic state a lot changed in the centuries that followed and for a lot of it Ukraine was under Russian rule in the 1900s the two were soviet republics Russia was the most powerful of the 15 republics and Ukraine the second most powerful it had defense industries large agricultural lands and housed much of the soviet nuclear arsenal during the cold war Ukraine was the arch-rival of the united states the soviet union collapsed in 1991 Ukraine became independent as did Russia Ukraine inherited much of soviet nuclear arsenal but gave it up to Russia in 1994. in exchange Moscow guaranteed Ukraine's security and promised to respect its sovereignty they signed the Budapest memorandum along with these countries cut to November 2013 Viktor Yanukovych was the president of Ukraine he had a reputation for heavy-handedness corruption and above all for being openly pro-Moscow in 2013 he rejected an EU trade deal this deal could have meant greater integration with the European union instead Yanukovych decided to take a 15 billion dollar bailout from Russia mto many Ukrainians it felt like being sold to Moscow so protests broke out they were called Euromaidan euro because these protests were about Europe and maidan because they happened in Kiev's maidan what we today known as the independent square here protesters chanted signed the EU deal Yanukovych must step down Russia supported the president the west supported the protesters in February 2014 Yanukovych's government was toppled the president was driven out of Ukraine he fled to Russia not every Ukrainian was happy with this many in the Russian speaking east wanted Yanukovych to stay when he was driven out the minority felt disenfranchised on the other side of the border Russia was angry it had lost its puppet to salvage the situation.
Moscow annexed Crimea why Crimea well let's now zoom into this part of the world Crimea is a peninsula it is located in the black sea in 1954 soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea it was given to the Ukrainian soviet socialist republic from the Russian soviet socialist republic why Khrushchev hoped the transfer would strengthen quote unquote brotherly ties between the Ukrainian and Russian people both Russia and Crimea were part of the soviet union so this transfer did not mean very much when Ukraine became independent in 1991 Crimea joined it the peninsula was given special autonomy it remained home to Russian military bases Moscow promised to respect Crimean autonomy many in Russia were of the opinion that Crimea should not have been allowed to join Ukraine in 2014 when Yanukovych was ousted from power in Ukraine Russian military began seizing government buildings in Crimea so the entire peninsula was under military occupation a referendum followed on the 16th of march 2014 Crimean's voted to become a part of Russia was this vote legitimate well it depends on who you ask for Putin this was Crimea's liberation for the rest of the world this was Crimea's annexation the focus then shifted to eastern Ukraine where Russia backed separatists had seized territory Ukrainian forces did not launch an all-out offensive at first but on the 17th of July 2014 when a flight carrying 298 people were shot down by these rebels Ukrainian forces decided to flush out the rebels the separatists began losing ground so the Russian army stepped in they invaded eastern Ukraine and fought alongside the rebels what followed was a series of talks between Russia Ukraine and the west.
They resulted in the Minsk accords. This was first signed in 2014 both sides agreed on ceasefire and military withdrawal Ukraine agreed to hold elections in the rebel-held areas eight years on the Minsk accords remain unimplemented Ukraine stands as the largest European country excluding Russia it covers an area of more than six hundred thousand square kilometers with a population of 44 million and a GDP of more than 155 billion dollars per capita income more than 3 700 today Ukraine is divided between east and west in more ways than one the west sees itself as more European the east is closer to Russia be it in terms of geography or sentiment in the west most Ukrainians speak Ukrainian in the east a third are native Russians in the west Russia is looked at with suspicion in the east Russia is looked at through the lens of shared history and heritage Ukraine also remains at war its forces are fighting the rebels in the east rebel leaders are ruling at least two regions Donetsk and loans together they're known as the Donbass region Russia has once again sent its troops this time they're stationed right at the border what does Vladimir Putin want for NATO to stop expanding NATO stands for north Atlantic treaty organization it's a military alliance these countries are the founding members of NATO these countries joined it during the cold war and these countries joined after it.
Ukraine wants to join NATO too but Putin wants NATO to exclude Ukraine and every former soviet state and this is just half the story like i said a lot is hidden in history for starters there is domestic politics when Putin annexed Crimea his approval rating skyrocketed keeping the nationalistic drum rolling helps the Russians president annexing parts of Ukraine also helps Putin restore Russia's superpower image again back to history many Russians view Ukraine's independence as a mistake it is true that Ukraine was ruled by Russia in fact Ukraine has barely remained independent pre-1991 there was a brief period before world war one and then another stint in 1600 for the rest of its modern history Ukraine was under Russia one in six Ukrainians is an ethnic Russians one in three speaks Russians as a native language so Putin is right when he says historically they were one but claiming Ukraine on the basis of colonial history is wrong it will be like Britain claiming indie or south Africa or Spain claiming the Philippines past imperialism cannot justify present-day expansionism here's what else history tells us Ukraine was forcefully crucified cut to 1700 Russians leader Katherine the great started crucifying Ukraine ethnic Russians were shipped to this part of the world schools were told to teach Russians language by 1800 the Ukrainian language was banned in 1930 soviet leader joseph Stalin steered a famine in Ukraine millions of eastern Ukrainians were killed the area was then repopulated with ethnic Russians in the 1940s the ethnic tartars were relocated they too were replaced with Russians there is a reason why eastern Ukraine today has so many native Russians speakers it was designed to be that way eastern Ukraine was always dear to Russia it has coal it has iron fertile land its historical connection with Russia was forced both in time and again talks about the holy ruse he says Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
Seventy percent of Ukrainians reject this thought. Seventy-two percent consider Russia a hostile state. Today thirty-three point three percent of Ukrainians are ready to take up arms against Russiatwenty-one point seven percent are ready to stage a civil resistance against Russia 67 percent of Ukrainians want to join the EU 59 percent want to join NATO to meet the current Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zielinski, he came to power in 2019 following a landslide victory he is a vocal critic of Russia Zelensky openly opposes Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine 73 percent of Ukrainian voters voted this man to power today Volodymyr Zelensky represents the pulse of Ukraine the Ukraine that wants to remain independent of Russia but Vladimir Putin wants to become the man who revived Russian imperialism he does not realize the world has moved on.
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