On Thursday, Russian forces launched an offensive on Ukraine, which began with explosives in the capital Kyiv and other places before sunrise.
Russia’s intention, according to Ukraine’s health minister, is to destroy the country, a Westward-looking democracy seeking to break free from Moscow’s grasp. In what the minister described as a “full-scale battle” striking Ukraine from the east, north, and south, at least 57 Ukrainians have been murdered and 169 more have been injured. It was unclear how many were civilians, while the Associated Press claimed that 40 troops had killed earlier in the day.
After meeting with national security officials and foreign leaders on Thursday afternoon, President Biden announced a fresh round of punitive penalties against Russia and Putin. He said the measure will entail a “pressure” on Russian access to financial markets, as well as export restrictions and other sanctions.
As it prepares for a full invasion, Ukraine’s authorities are organising 36,000 reservists. An extra 10,000 reserve personnel are being activated by Ukraine’s National Guard and border-control agency.
Is World War III about to break out?
“Russia treacherously assaulted our state in the morning, like Nazi Germany did in two#WWW years,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted on Thursday. Our countries are currently on opposite sides of world history.”
Oleksiy Honcharuk, Ukraine’s former prime minister, warned that the Russian invasion may lead to a third global war. According to The Independent, Honcharuk labelled Thursday’s assaults a “critical moment” and asserted that Putin simply “recognises power” and that the conflict between the nations will continue. Between 2019 and 2020, Honcharuk served as Prime Minister.
“It might be the beginning of the third global war.” “We have to accept it because Putin is not going to stop,” Honcharuk stated.
What is the relationship between Russia and Ukraine historically?
During World War I, two Ukrainian republics were formed, one on either side of the former Russian-Austrian border. They merged in 1919 to become the Ukrainian People’s Republic, an independent state.
Ukraine’s pro-independence forces were defeated by the Soviet Union soon after, and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was admitted as a founding member of the USSR in 1922. In 1991, however, a referendum on Ukrainian independence was overwhelmingly supported by a majority of Ukrainians in every area, resulting in a landslide victory of more than 90%. The Soviet Union ceased to exist a week later. In early 2014, Euromaidan protesters in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, brought out a pro-Russian president who refused to sign an EU association deal. Russia instigated a separatist uprising in Ukraine’s east and subsequently took control of a portion of the Donbas area. Despite the formation of a cease-fire agreement in 2015, the front lines have remained stationary since then. In Ukraine, about 14,000 people have perished as a result of the violence, and 1.5 million people have been internally displaced.
Moscow has reportedly engaged in warfare and cyberattacks against Ukraine in the eight years since, and the State Department said in early February that Putin was planning a false-flag operation to establish “a pretext for an invasion.”
