On Thursday, February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion was authorized by the sixty-nine year old Russian President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

Following this development, many world leaders have condemned Putin and urged him to rescind his decision.

Countries such as the USA, UK and France have even gone ahead to impose economic sanctions on Russia, as a result of the invasion.

Since then, there have been a lot of public commentaries and divergent opinions on the matter. While some have urged Putin on, others have criticized his invasion of Ukraine; a country of over 44 million citizens, which is often regarded as the second largest in Europe, after Russia.

The aim of this piece is to enlighten readers on the issue; starting with the historical ties between the two countries.

The historical relationship between Russia and Ukraine

Beginning in the 9^th century, a group of people called the Kievan Rus or the Rus, settled in the Eastern and Northern parts of Europe, with Kyiv as their capital. Between the 10^th and 11^th century, Rus became the largest state in Europe.

In the years that followed, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine came out from the Kievan Rus. So for starters, Russia and Ukraine both trace their ancestry from one source; that is the Kievan Rus.

Later in the 1900’s, Russia and Ukraine became part of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR). The USSR was also known as the Soviet Union. It consisted of 15 republics; with Russia as the leading and most influential nation, followed by Ukraine.

Other members of the Soviet Union included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

After the end of the Second World War in 1945, the world was divided into two rival groups, namely the Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union (Russia); and the Western Bloc, led by the United States of America (USA).

The division of the world between the Eastern and Western blocs, led to what was known as the Cold War. Historians say the Cold War begun around 1947, two years after the Second World War in 1945.

But the Cold War was not a war of guns and bullets. Basically, it was a political struggle between the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc, on who could capture more geographical regions of influence across the world.  Think of it as two brothers struggling to get more peanuts which has been spread on the floor.

In terms of political ideology, the Eastern Bloc and their allies believed in communism, whiles the Western Bloc and their allies believed in capitalism.

Now as a way of boosting their security, members of the Western Bloc, led by the United States of America (USA), came together to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1949. NATO was also known as the North Atlantic Alliance or the Washington Treaty.

Members of NATO included the United States, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Greece, and Turkey. Other countries like Israel, Kenya, Brazil, South Korea, Pakistan, North Yemen, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand etc., also joined.

NATO was a military alliance, which sought to protect member countries. The objective of NATO was that, if one member nation is invaded or attacked by a third party, all other members will come together and mobilise resources to defend the attacked country.

On the other hand, the Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union (Russia), also came together to sign the Warsaw Pact; also known as the Warsaw Treaty Organisation (WTO). Just like NATO, the Warsaw Pact was also a military alliance which sought to protect countries in the Eastern Bloc.

The Warsaw Pact was created in 1955; six years after NATO. It included the USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, and Romania. Other countries like Angola, Cuba, Bolivia, Cambodia, South Yemen, Tunisia, Nepal, Bhutan, Libya, Mongolia, Jamaica, North Korea, China and Laos etc., also joined.

Unfortunately, in 1991, the Soviet Union or the USSR was dissolved, and this brought an end to the Cold War. This made the United States of America, the only super power in the world. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all the 15 republics, including Russia and Ukraine, broke away and become independent states.

Ukraine was the second most powerful country in the USSR (Soviet Union), and had all the military apparatus of the Soviet Union. However, after the dissolution of the Union, Ukraine handed over the military arsenals to Russia.

In turn, Russia promised to defend Ukraine and respect its sovereignty as an independent country. This led to the signing of the Budapest Agreement, between Russia and Ukraine; including USA, UK, Belarus and Kazakhstan in the year, 1994.

Events after 1994

After the Budapest Agreement in 1994, Russia and Ukraine lived in significant harmony as independent states. However, Russia still showed signs of wanting to reclaim the glory and influence it had as the leader of the dissolved Soviet Union (USSR). This was seen in Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, where it seized major buildings and military infrastructure as well.

One of the reasons for the invasion of Georgia was that, Georgia had given indications of wanting to join NATO; a move Russia felt will draw NATO closer to its jurisdiction and therefore comprise its security. Apart from Georgia, Ukraine had also given a similar indication of wanting to join NATO. This also didn’t please the Russians.

According to Vladimir Putin, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the West or NATO had agreed not to extend their geographical coverage to the East, or admit Eastern countries to NATO. Even though this has been refuted, Putin maintains that such agreements were reached after the fall of the USSR (Russia).

Tensions in 2014

Then in 2014, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych, was driven out in a mass protest, after his government was toppled. Part of the reasons for his removal was because, he didn’t allow Ukraine to join the European Union, despite prospects of such a merger.

Instead, he took a 15 billion dollar economic bailout from Russia. As a result of this, the West (NATO) saw Yanukovych as sympathetic to Russia, so did his own citizens, the Ukranians.

But after he was kicked out, the Russians were not happy. The Russians believed that the coup was aided by the West. They felt that since Yanukovych had been replaced with Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko, a President who was more affiliated to the West, Ukraine would end up joining NATO, as they had earlier expressed in 2008.

As a result, Russia quickly captured the Crimera Peninsula in the south. After the capture, there was an insurgency in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk). Rebels took over the two regions and held a popular vote and made a bid to become part of Russia.

Although the Donbas region is part of Ukraine, it is dominated by Ukrainians who speak Russian, and who see themselves more as Russians. Ukraine and the West therefore accused Russia of backing the rebels to break apart, but Russia denied the allegations.

The Ukranian government fought the rebel groups for months until in August 2014, a peace agreement was signed between the Ukranian government, the rebels and Organisation for Security and Corporation in Europe (OSCE). This was known as the Minsk Agreement, signed in Minsk, Belarus.

However, the peace collapsed, and between January and February, 2015, there was renewed fighting between the rebels and the Ukranian government. This led to the signing of another peace agreement in Minsk.

This time, it did not only involve the rebels and the Ukranian government, but also countries like Russia, Germany and France were all involved. The second agreement gave the rebels some autonomy to dominate the two regions of Donetsk and Luhanks (Donbask). This has led to some tensions for the past eight years (2014-2022).

The invasion on February 24

Now on the morning of February 24, Russia launched an attack on Ukraine; a move Vladimir Putin described as a “special military operation”. The Russian forces entered Ukraine from Crimea in the south, Belarus in the north, and the Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk) in the east.

Before the invasion, on February 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as autonomous republics, away from Ukraine. On that note, Putin sent troops to protect the two regions, which is largely dominated by Russian-speaking Ukranians.

The invasion by Russia, was characterised by the firing of missiles into cities in Ukraine including its capital, Kyiv. For the records, Kyiv is the seventh most populous city in Europe, with an estimated population of about 2.9 million people.

The firing of missiles, and other combative moves by the Russian military, sent Kyiv into a state of disarray. Normal activities were disrupted. Russian ground forces also entered Ukraine, leading to heightened fear and panic in the country.

Anton Gerashchenko, Ukraine's Deputy Interior Minister, said the missiles from Russia did not only affect Kyiv, but also Kharkov and Dnieper.

Hours after this, Putin gave a televised address, on the Russian state television, confirming the invasion of Ukraine, and explaining the reasons for doing so.

In his address, he disclosed two main reasons for invading his western neighbours and ‘Soviet brothers’ (Don’t forget that, Russia and Ukraine were both part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – USSR, also known as the ‘Soviet Union’, which was dissolved on December 26, 1991).

Putin said the motive of the invasion is to demilitarise and ‘denazify’ Ukraine; a global exporter of grains.

“The purpose of this operation is to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kiev regime.

To this end, we will seek to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation.

It is not our plan to occupy the Ukrainian territory. We do not intend to impose anything on anyone by force”, Putin stated.

But what does Putin mean, when he says he wants to ‘demilitarise and denazify Ukraine’? Knowing this, will deepen our understanding of the global security upset, which according to Ukraine’s Health Minister, Victor Liashko, has so far killed about 200 people including civilians, three of whom are children (Aljazeera reports).

Explaining Putin’s invasion

To demilitarise a geographical jurisdiction is to reduce the presence of military personnel and all state military activities in that area. Now for the records, as explained earlier, Ukraine declared itself as an independent state on August 24, 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

As with all independent countries, Ukraine has the right to govern its own affairs. Why then is Vladimir Putin interested in demilitarising an independent country like Ukraine? Is that not an infringement on the sovereignty of Ukraine, which Putin promised to protect in the Budapest Agreement in 1994?

Well, when Putin spoke about demilitarising Ukraine, he believed that the USA is making subtle attempts to admit Ukraine into NATO; a move Putin believes will threaten the security of Russia.

Already, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991, many countries in the eastern bloc joined NATO, and therefore brought America closer to the borders of Russia.

However, Russia and America had agreed not to come too close to each other’s borders. As a result of this, in 1962, when the USSR (Russia) decided to install some military missiles in Cuba, which is close to America, the Americans fought the decision and threatened war.

But having done that, the Russians suspect that the Americans are surprisingly making a lot of moves to extend their influence to the East. In his address on February 24, Putin complained about how the US in their bid to come closer to Russia, promoted the 2014 coup in Ukraine, where Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko, a pro-American President was installed.

Putin also complained about the eastward expansion of NATO, the installation of missiles in Romania and Poland and the harsh treatment meted to Russian speaking Ukrainians in the East.

“Even now, with NATO’s eastward expansion, the situation for Russia has been becoming worse and more dangerous by the year. Moreover, these past days NATO leadership has been blunt in its statements that they need to accelerate and step up efforts to bring the alliance’s infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders.

In other words, they have been toughening their position. We cannot stay idle and passively observe these developments. This would be an absolutely irresponsible thing to do for us.

Any further expansion of the North Atlantic alliance’s infrastructure or the ongoing efforts to gain a military foothold of the Ukrainian territory are unacceptable for us. Of course, the question is not about NATO itself. It merely serves as a tool of US foreign policy.

The problem is that in territories adjacent to Russia, which I have to note is our historical land, a hostile ‘anti-Russia’ is taking shape. Fully controlled from the outside, it is doing everything to attract NATO armed forces and obtain cutting-edge weapons.

For the United States and its allies, it is a policy of containing Russia, with obvious geopolitical dividends. For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation.

This is not an exaggeration; this is a fact. It is not only a very real threat to our interests but to the very existence of our state and to its sovereignty. It is the red line which we have spoken about on numerous occasions. They have crossed it”, Putin stated in his post-invasion address on February 24, 2022.

Let me end with an analogy to explain Putin’s action.

Take Vladimir Putin as a land owner, who owns a parcel of land (Russia). Next to his parcel of land is another land owner, who owns another land (Ukraine). In the course of time, the neighbouring land owner shows interest in partnering with a real estate company (America or NATO). This partnership will benefit the real estate company (America or NATO) and Ukraine as well.

But Putin sees the partnership as a threat and urges the real estate company not to partner with his neighbor (Ukraine). However, it looks like that will happen, since the owner of the neighbouring land (in this case the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy) likes the real estate company (America or NATO). Feeling threatened, Putin invades the neighbouring land (Ukraine), as a way of preventing the alliance.

The current Ukrainian border is less than 600km to Moscow. As a result, Russia feels that if it allows Ukraine to join NATO, the America led organisation will be closer to striking Russia’s capital if it ever decides to do so. This is the security threat that Putin sees.

In 1962, when the Soviet Union (Russia) wanted to install missiles in Cuba, America threatened war because, Cuba is about 1100 miles to America, and so the United States felt that, Russia was drawing close to them, hence they resisted the move by Russia to install the missiles in Cuba.

Based on the above, it is clear that Putin is only acting to guard his space, while the United States (NATO) is seeking to threaten Putin’s space. But does Putin have the right to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, even though that will bring an 'enemy' closer home?

Putin doesn’t want NATO any closer, hence his invasion of Ukraine.