Russia Falls on its Face for Ukraine
Photo by Mstyslav Chernov, CC BY-SA 3.0
Before the invasion, most Americans knew very little to nothing of the politics of eastern Europe. It is a poor region, with the history of the soviet union that still heavily influences it. Most importantly, Russia’s goals for Ukraine. Goals that have seemed harder to obtain than Putin realized.
It has now been weeks since Russia has invaded and yet they have flopped every step of the way. They have recently lost territory around the area of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Tanks and trucks run out of gas, and soldiers are resorting to asking for gas money and food from Ukrainian citizens. Meanwhile, Russian forces have been receiving hostilities from said Ukrainian citizens, thrusting the Ukrainian identity into the world stage.
But why would Russia, a country 28 times bigger, care about Ukraine? Well like most conflicts, there are two answers: the one Russia gives, and the truth.
Russia claims that they are liberating Ukraine from the United States and NATO imperialism. They claim that the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 was a hostile coup by the USA to spread NATO forces to Russia’s border. Any student of history will recognize this strategy as it’s easy to justify an invasion if you play the victim. They have called their invasion during its process the “de-nazification of Ukraine”. Despite no evidence of NATO and The United States' involvement in The Revolution of Dignity, the Ukrainian government has never been “Nazified.” In fact, the government has never been more supported until now.
The Revolution of Dignity was a revolt and eventually an overthrow of the Ukrainian government. It started when former President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union. President Yanukovych then decided to make stronger ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union, which is under Russian influence. These protests had huge repercussions: the government was overthrown, and the annexation of Crimea by Russia, which is a part of Ukraine. Following this, Russia was kicked out of the G8, becoming the G7, and a bunch of tariffs and embargoes.
Russia has also used an old fashion imperialist talking point: the Blood and Soil argument. They claim that the Donbas region, an area in Ukraine closest to the Russian border, has Russian people and should be brought back into Russian hands. Invaders have used this argument many times. Hitler, for example, used the same excuse to invade Austria and Czechoslovakia. It is also worth noting that Russia has been caught funding and supporting Pro-Russian Separatist groups in the Donbas Region. It is also important to remember that Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons with the promise, from Russia, to not invade barely 30 years ago.
But Russia is lying when they say these talking points, to the surprise of no one. Ukraine is very different from Russia; despite their languages being similar, they have developed separate identities and cultures. But last time Ukraine was under Russian control and influence, it went horribly for Ukraine. During the Stalin era of the Soviet Union, Stalin committed genocide against Ukraine. He engineered a man-made famine in the Ukraine region after Ukrainians started to become rebellious toward the Soviet government.
Millions died in what we call today: The Holodomor. The Soviet government suppressed all information about the mass starvation and Ukraine wasn’t even allowed to teach this history until the late eighties when the Soviet Union finally acknowledged it. So, while The Holodomor happened a few generations ago, the memory of learning what Russia did to Ukraine is still very prominent in the Ukrainian people. Slava Ukraini!
