Ukraine and Russia have been at conflict since 2014. Recently, things looked like they were going to simmer down but now things turned bad again. Tension is rising between them again and this puts NATO countries (specifically the U.S.A.) in a difficult position. If Russia and Ukraine end up in a full blown war, NATO countries need to decide if they will back either country or stay neutral. 

Recently, Russia has been increasing troops on the Ukraine border. In addition, there has been a lot of conflict between rebels backed by Moscow and Ukrainian troops. These clashes between the rebels and Ukrainian troops ruin the point of the ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. In this year so far, 25 Ukrainian troops have been killed in the conflict despite the seisfire. 

Why are Russia and Ukraine at conflict? 

In 2014, Russia and Ukraine became at conflict not long after Russia Annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This meant that they claimed the Crimean Peninsula as part of the Russian Federation; Ukraine was not happy about this.  Although Russia did Annex Crimea it is considered to be part of Ukraine by other nations. If this wasn’t enough to start a conflict on its own, there were also pro-Russian separatist groups that took over areas in Eastern Ukrainian regions. So far around 1300 people have been killed in conflict and most of the casualties have been in the years 2014 and 2015. 3375 of the casualties have been civilians which is a very steep number; the conflict has been in areas where villages and towns reside. 

Why are tensions rising between Russia and Ukraine?

Recently, tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been rising for many reasons. Recently, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine banned three pro-Russian TV stations and put sanctions on Viktor Medvedchuk, a oligarch and friend of Vladmir Putin (the President of Russia. Rebels that are funded by Russia have been attacking Ukrainian troops recently too. The main reason for the concern that there may be a war is the increasing amount of Russian troops being stationed on the border of Ukraine.

How are other countries reacting to this? 

Other sovereign nations have to monitor the situation closely because it may break into a major conflict. The United States backs Ukraine on this and is not in support of Russia’s actions. Joe Biden told President Volodymyr Zelensky he has their support on a personal phone call to him. He also called back on Russia to remove many of the troops from the Ukrainian border. Germany has called on Russia to remove their troops from the border and claimed that Russia “is trying to provoke a reaction” from Ukraine. Ukraine has recently announced joint training operations with NATO. This may be a step to Ukraine officially joining NATO; Ukraine believes this would end the conflict swiftly.