It can be difficult to understand what exactly is happening along the Russia-Ukraine border without knowledge of the countries’ deeply intertwined histories. That said, here’s everything you need to know:
What’s going on with Russia and Ukraine?
A build-up of Russian military troops along Ukraine and Russia’s shared 1,200-mile border has Ukrainian and Western officials fearful a repeat of 2014 (when Kremlin-led forces annexed the Crimean peninsula) is imminent. Moscow has denied any plans to invade Kyiv. U.S. intelligence, however, posits such an attack could happen as early as January 2022, though the current mass of troops lacks the support needed to sustain any sort of invasion. American officials have also accused Russia of “mounting an aggressive information operation to destabilize Ukraine politically,” with the plan to blame any escalation on Ukraine and NATO, writes CBS News.
Ukraine was a valuable part of the Soviet Union for centuries before becoming its own republic, having produced much of the wheat consumed in the U.S.S.R while acting as a sort of “buffer” between Europe and Russia. But ever since Russia annexed Crimea seven years ago, Ukrainian and Russian forces have been fighting a proxy war in the Donbas region of Ukraine. A peace deal in 2015 brought an end to most battles, though smaller skirmishes continue.
Given the cultural and ethnic ties between the two countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin has long maintained Ukraine falls under Russia’s sphere of influence, but has begrudgingly watched as pro-Western and anti-Russian sentiment blossomed over the years; in 2014, for example, Ukranians ousted a pro-Putin president and have chosen to elect Western-leaning politicians ever since.
