Browsing: Russia-Ukraine crisis

Russia-Ukraine crisis

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, marking a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014 following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. 

The invasion triggered Europe’s largest refugee crisis since WW2, with millions leaving the country and millions more displaced. 

Russia invades Ukraine 2022 

In 2014, at the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia annexed Crimea and Russian-backed separatists seized part of the south-eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, sparking a regional war there. 

In 2022, Russia began a large military build-up along its Ukrainian border – over 190,000 armed troops. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had continued to deny Russia was planning an invasion until shortly before the invasion. 

In a broadcast shortly before the invasion, Putin espoused irredentist views, questioned Ukraine’s right to statehood and falsely claimed the country was being governed by neo-Nazis. Putin also claimed NATO constitutes a threat to Russia’s national security by expanding eastward since the early 2000s, which NATO disputed. Russia demanded NATO cease expansion and bar Ukraine from ever joining. The UK, USA and allies all accused Russia of planning to attack or invade Ukraine, Russian officials and state media continued to deny it up until 23 February 2022. 

The invasion began on 24 February – Putin announced it was a “special military operation” to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine. Russia then started missiles and airstrikes across Ukraine as well as a large ground invasion from multiple directions. 

The invasion has been widely condemned by the international community.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine hasn’t gone entirely to plan as the Russians underestimated the Ukrainian people’s will to fight for their country. 

‘Russia launches record number of drones’ & ‘French mass rape trial concludes’ & ‘Merkel releases highly anticipated memoir’ – Paper Talk Europe EU

Russia’s record bombing of Ukraine leads much of the bloc’s major news sites this morning as Ukraine’s air force says it has shot down 76 Russian drones in 17 regions, whilst another 95 were lost from their radars or downed by electronic jamming defensive systems in overnights attacks.

Former German chancellor Angela Merkel also dominates much of the European news. A formidable feature of European politics, Merkel served Germany for 16 years. Today, her memoir Freedom is released. The highly anticipated memoir confronts criticisms of her policies on Russia and migration, which some say left Germany overly dependent on Russian gas and has fueled the rise of the far right in the Deutschland.

The conclusion of the mass rape trial in France finds plenty of space as prosecutors demand the maximum sentence for Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband and women around the world protesting for an end to violence against women. Much of the European media – including the UK – are running various campaigns and stories around violence towards women, sexual assault and calls for governments to do better.

Ambassadors from Ukraine and NATO’s 32 members meet Tuesday in Brussels over Russia’s firing last week of an experimental hypersonic intermediate-range missile.

Russia on Thursday carried out a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro which President Vladimir Putin said was a test of its new Oreshnik missile.

Putin said the missile attack was in response to Ukraine firing weapons supplied by the United States and Britain into Russia.

In a major shift in U.S. policy, President Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles to target Russian territory. The decision, confirmed by a U.S. official to CBS News, follows months of lobbying by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called for lifting restrictions on strikes beyond Ukraine’s borders.