Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a 'military operation' on Ukraine on February 24,?claiming that it is intended to 'protect civilians'.?Addressing the country via television, Putin had said that their actions are that of "self-defence against threats." Soon after his announcement, explosions could be heard across the country as Russian troops invaded Ukraine.?
ALSO READ :?What Is Hybrid Warfare And How Russia Is Reportedly Using This Tactic In Ukraine
The social media is full of pictures and videos of civilians, some are terrified from the recent developments while others are taking up weapons to defend their motherland. The US provided military aid of $350 million to Ukraine after President?Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to flee his country saying, 'I need ammunition, not a ride'.
The world is watching as the two neighbours go all out against one another in a war. On Sunday (February 27), Russian troop vehicles were seen on the streets of Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv, Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, wrote on Telegram. On the other hand, videos published by Herashchenko and Ukraine's State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection showed several light military vehicles moving along a street and, separately, a burning tank.
Amidst all that is being circulated on social media, a particular video from 2015 is gaining attention.?John J. Mearsheimer, a Political Science Professor is seen giving a lecture on the Ukraine crises back then. In the video, he can be seen saying that the West is 'leading Ukraine down the primrose path' and that the need of the hour is to work to create a 'neutral Ukraine' in order to bury the crisis as soon as possible.?
He begins the video by saying, "What's going on here is that the West is leading Ukraine down the primrose path. And the end result is that Ukraine is going to get wrecked. And I believe that the policy that I'm advocating, which is neutralising Ukraine, and then building it up economically, and getting it out of the competition between Russia on one side, NATO on the other side is the best thing that could happen to the Ukrainians. What we're doing is encouraging the Ukrainians to play tough with the Russians. We're encouraging, the Ukrainians to think that they will ultimately become part of the West, because we will ultimately defeat Putin, and we will ultimately get our way, time is on our side. And of course, the Ukrainians are playing along with this."
He further says, "And Ukrainians are almost completely unwilling to compromise with the Russians and instead want to pursue a hardline policy. Well, as I said to you before, if they do that, the end result is that their country is going to be wrecked. And what we're doing is in effect, encouraging that outcome. I think it would make much more sense for us to neutral to, to work to create a neutral Ukraine, it would be in our interest to bury this crisis as quickly as possible. It certainly would be in Russia's interest to do so. And most importantly, it would be in Ukraine's interest to put an end to the crisis."
For the unversed, relations between?Ukraine and Russia went sour after Ukraine's exit from the Soviet Union. The first blow to the Russia-Ukraine relation came in the form of the Orange Revolution, which were the peaceful protests that took place in the winter of 2004.?As a result of the protests, an allegedly Russian-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovych was barred from winning the Ukrainian presidency. As a result, his rival,?Viktor Yushchenko became the president of Ukraine. However, in 2010, Viktor?Yanukovych succeeded?Yushchenko as the Ukrainian president.?
In 2013, mass protests began in Kyiv, the capital city after?Yanukovych's refusal to sign an European Union (EU) association agreement. The protests, that led to several deaths, went on for a couple of months. Russia responded to this by?annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and allegedly backing a separatist rebellion in Ukraine's east, which subsequently seized control in the part of its Donbas region. Russia had dismissed the accusations saying Russians who joined the separatists in Eastern Ukraine were 'volunteers'.?
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