US president Joe Biden warned Russia and President Vladimir Putin on 19th January if they try to invade Ukraine they ‘will regret having done it. Because the US and their European allies known as ‘the quad’ will not tolerate this invasion.
Over the last few months, Russia has gathered around 100,000 troops along the border with Ukraine. Last week Russia was moving the troops to Belarus, a country that shares its borders with both Russia and Ukraine.
Putin has various security demands on the US before he withdraws his military forces. The list that was given by Putin includes banning Ukraine from entering NATO. Along with that it also demands NATO must remove troops and weapons from several places of Eastern Europe.
In 2014 Putin has already annexed the Crimea portion of Ukraine, and now again this situation. There is an elaborated history behind this Russia-Ukraine relationship.
30 years back after the fall Soviet Union, Ukraine became an independent country. Since then there was an internal struggle that remained constant in Ukraine.
The Western region supported Western Europe and the eastern region favored Russia over others.
The tension between Russia and Ukraine touched its peak in 2014. The Ukraine Protesters overpowered and eventually threw away the Russian intrusion; this is now known as the Revolution of Dignity.
By this time Russia annexed Crimea by force. They took advantage of the vulnerability of Ukraine. At this point, Ukraine was unable to apply any act of self-defense with a temporary Government and unprepared military.
After witnessing the Russian martial aggression Ukraine government announced that they will apply for European Union membership in 2024. And they also have the ambition to join NATO.
According to a survey published in September 2021 which showed that 81 percent of the Ukraine population is against Russia and Putin. But the remaining 15 percent have positive remarks about Russian leaders.
The sudden force built up can be associated as an act of punishment to the Ukrainian government, as they wanted to join NATO. And as Putin still sees Ukraine as a part of Russia, they will bar Ukraine to join any of the two European Union or NATO.
According to the agreement of 1994 between the US, United Kingdom, and Russia, that claimed to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty in exchange for giving up its nuclear arsenal.
Putin’s acts will have severe repercussions. Not just for Russia but for the whole world. It may pull the string of another world war as well. Military support for Ukraine and political and economic sanctions are the ways that can make the US prominently convey to Moscow that they will face consequences for the military advancements on an independent country.
And there is still a possibility that the Kremlin might take another action that will jeopardize the security and stability of European countries.