On February 20th, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin has made several claims as to why it was necessary to invade, one being that their president was a Neo-Nazi. As far as excuses go, this is a poor one because President Zelenski is a Jewish man whose family was murdered in the holocaust. Another claim that Putin has made is that Russians and Ukrainians are one people who must be united. Ukraine was part of the old Soviet Union, and the Ukrainians and Russians draw their lineage from the same place. Much of Ukraine’s eastern border is inhabited by native Russians. However, these Russians were planted here by Stalin several decades ago. A majority of Ukrainians wish to stay autonomous, and so Putin taking control based on the two countries’ history is simply Imperialism. The truth is, Putin invaded Ukraine to keep them from joining NATO, a military alliance of America and much of Europe is a part of. Many Ukrainians aline themselves more with Europe than with Russia and wish to become part of the EU.

Many Americans feared that we were about to enter another war. Ukraine had been asking for help since the aggressions from Russia began. America sent troops to neighboring countries that are part of NATO to protect them, but no one is coming to help the Ukraine. Ukraine is now at the mercy of Russia. Some have drawn a connection to when Hitler annexed Austria for the sake of reuniting one person, and the rest of Europe did very little to help them. Many worry that Putin’s ambitions are much larger than just Ukraine and that he is attempting to breathe new life into the old Soviet Union.