A Ukrainian soldier carries a child while assisting people crossing a destroyed bridge near Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling on March 5, 2022. photo courtesy of Aris Messinis
A recap of the recent Russia And Ukrainian tensions over 2022.
Throughout the year of 2022, the most polarizing news that is affecting everybody around the globe is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the looming possibility of another World War. However, this war dates back before tensions were escalating on February 24th. During 2014, Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region of Donbass, Ukraine declared independence. 15,000 people have been killed since 2014, fighting between the separatists and the Ukrainian army, according to the Kyiv government. The war has only escalated up to this point. As April , many powerful countries, such as North Korea, China and India, spark a lot of pressure between many global powers that nobody can get away from as Ukraine has incoming aid from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
All of the war threats on all of these countries around the world create a lot of stress. According to the Network Professional Association, “Top sources of stress were the rise in prices of everyday items due to inflation (e.g., gas prices, energy bills, grocery costs, etc.) (cited by 87%), followed by supply chain issues (81%), global uncertainty (81%), Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (80%) and potential retaliation from Russia (80%).” Many people have been affected in some way or form by this conflict halfway across the globe which is getting many countries on every continent.
On March 16th, the United States gave Ukraine $800 million in security assistance, bringing the total U.S. Security assistance committed to Ukraine to $1 billion just in that week. This now adds up to around $2 billion today. Almost all countries apart of the European Union have provided resources to help stop the war before it is too late. However, Ukraine does have many states on its side and Russia has a lot of power on their shoulders. Russia, along with its allies, create a terrifying combination. The issue with Russia being part of Europe, and Ukraine being a European country as well, makes it a lot more difficult to try and take over Ukraine because they would be outnumbered. Almost all of Asia is powerful and continues to show support for Russia, which could eventually bring a war that could create the world to lose two thirds of the global population.
Now it could reach this point but the numbers speak for themselves. As of April 5, 2022, a NATO official who spoke to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) on condition of anonymity, “Up to 40,000 Russian troops were either killed, injured, had been captured or had disappeared. Between 7,000 and 15,000 are thought to have been killed.” Ukraine is a total war zone and is unsafe in Kyiv, while North Western Ukraine is unsafe just because of politics. As it looks so far, Russia is hitting a Ukrainian wall with a strategy change after Russia had first invaded Ukraine. Russia has not changed their strategy yet, so only time will tell. The world changes every year with new obstacles and new boundaries which can make it stressful on lots of people. Everybody is praying for the people in Ukraine for the innocent civilians and hopefully this potential next world war can eventually come to a close.
