The war in Ukraine: How did it happen?
Text by Ulyana Tyshchenko
You’ve probably been bombarded by the news of a war breaking out in Ukraine. But how exactly did this war come to be? Here’s a simplified inside look and explanation about what is going on right now in Eastern Europe and how this war arose.
The history
The European Union is a formidable alliance that came to be after the second world war. Composed of almost thirty countries, the ever-growing union is more or less politically united. The most eastern nations that are part of this group of countries used to be under the banner of the Soviet Union, a hallmark of the communist beliefs that held this part of the world together. Current European Union member states, including Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, and many others were part of the Soviet Union for the majority of the entire 20th century. Formed in roughly 1918 before disbanding in 1991, these nations were mostly united under one universal language: Russian.
As a consequence of using this lingua franca, Eastern Europe is dominated by Russian culture. This can be comparable to European colonialism and the way cultural values were brought to South and North America, Africa and Asia. Eventually the Soviet Union collapsed, the economy crashed and most people were left with nothing.
The countries that were subjugated to the Soviet hegemonic power started to look back at their history, their culture, wondering how they could build their own future and tell their own authentic story. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine, a former member of the communist block, has been viewed by Russia as a relatively neutral country, meaning that Ukraine was not enough of a democracy to be considered western European, nor was it communist enough to be considered a potential right hand.
Ukrainians fought for democracy - and its core values such as freedom of speech - since they gained their independence in 1991. This almost automatically meant that the country had to move towards a more “socially viewed” western thinking. Soon enough the people of Ukraine wanted to join the European Union and grow further as an independent nation. In 2013 a chance to collaborate with the EU was given to Ukraine, but the former president Viktor Yanukovitch backed out of this deal at the very last moment leaving most of Ukrainians disappointed. A revolution started soon after. Ukrainian people wanted to move more west in their thinking and their politics.
This led to bloody protests, and imprisonment of civilians that spoke out against president Yanukovitch. It is believed that Yanukovitch was directly supported by Vladimir Putin who wanted to form an economic union with the former Soviet countries.
The revolution After the revolution in 2013 there has been a very visible shift in Ukrainian politics. The country was eager to show their democratic beliefs and tear their bond with their communist past. For example: Ukrainian language became more prominent, corruption was fought and human rights as well as freedom of speech were given the utmost priority. All of this democratic development did not sit right with Russia.
The present
The Russian government has said that western thinking has expanded too much towards eastern Europe. This is why a so-called “special military operation'' was launched by Russia in Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022.
The Russian government says that Ukraine has been taken over by nazi’s (please note that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a jew) and that they feel directly threatened by this, which is why they have sent their troops to Ukraine. Russia has also stated that Russian speaking Ukrainians have asked for their help in “denazifying” the country. The evidence to this claim remains to be found, which could highlight how such a statement and an accusation are a mere pretext for political and economic control over the Ukrainian territory.
Photos by Matti
Right now Ukraine is fighting Russian troops in the north, east and south.
It is important to say that if any other western country would take part in this war, it would mean that a world war could break out. On top of that Ukraine is not a part of NATO, which is why it cannot be supported by it. Currently almost a million of Ukrainians have fled their country and more refugees are expected to arrive in western Europe.
We have provided some resources to support the most at risk groups and disportionately affected groups of people in Ukraine right now as they need our help more than ever.
