The war between Ukraine and Russia has been rapidly escalating for the past few days. Russians launched their long feared “full scale invasion” of Ukraine after Putin, the president of Russia, announced a special military operation on February 17, 2022.

According to the New York Times, Putin stated he was acting out after receiving a plea for assistance from the leaders of the Russian-backed separatists territories. 

Ukraine declared a 30-day state of emergency as cyberattacks knocked out government institutions. Their president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, declared martial law following the beginning of the attacks. 

On Day 5 of the invasion, Zelenskyy called for an international tribunal to investigate Russia for war crimes. The US and European Union have condemned Russia’s aggression and have begun issuing economic sanctions against Russia.

 An immense amount of explosions and deaths have taken place in Ukraine. Over 670,000 people have fled Ukraine and some are left homeless; in desperate need of shelter for their families. 2,870 Ukraine troops have been killed, 3,700 injured, and 572 captured. 

This all started because Russia considered Ukraine to be within its natural sphere of influence. Ukraine’s closeness with the West and the exception that they might join NATO or the European Union has become discouraging. 

These tensions have been lingering around since 2014 when the Russian military crossed into Ukrainian territory. Later on, a ceasefire was negotiated in 2015, but the conflict continued leading to the current war.