Ukraine has a population of 44 million people, making it Europe's seventh-largest country. The country is composed of 24 regions, also called oblasts. Since the 1990s, the country's population has decreased, and fertility rates are among the lowest in the world. Ukraine's fertility rate was only 1.2 in 2020. To put things in perspective, The Girl in Kherson a population must have a total fertility rate of 2.1 in order to be stable.
After Russia, Ukraine is Europe's second-largest country. Ukraine is somewhat smaller than the US state of Texas, approximately three times smaller than India, half the size of South Africa, and roughly two and a half times the size of the United Kingdom, with a total area of 603,550 square kilometers (233,031 square miles).
Oil and gas are abundant in both Russia and Ukraine. With 48,938 billion cubic meters of confirmed gas reserves, Russia leads the world. Gazprom, a state-owned energy company, owns more than 70 percent of the country's gas reserves. About a third of Europe's natural gas comes from Russia. Sanctions imposed by the United States as a result of the conflict could interrupt that supply, exacerbating Europe's energy crisis. Germany suspended certification of Nord Stream 2, an $11.6 billion Russian gas pipeline project that was set to transport 151 million cubic meters of gas per day into Europe.
Russia also boasts some of the world's greatest proven oil reserves, with 80 billion barrels, or five percent of global reserves. Ukraine, too, has a large oil and gas reserve, with 395 million barrels of oil and 349 billion cubic meters of gas, respectively. The country is strategically located at a crossroads between the West and Russia, and it plays a critical role in delivering Russian gas to European markets.
The Soviet Union had 15 socialist republics, including Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine declared independence on August 24, 1991, after the Soviet Union collapsed. Following independence, Ukraine made strenuous efforts to shed its Russian imperial background and build closer links with the West.
Ukraine has been led by seven presidents in the last 30 years. With two revolutions, the first in 2005 and the second in 2014, the country has had a bumpy road to democracy. Protesters in both cases denounced Russia's dominance and demanded a way to join the European Union and NATO.
In comparison, Russia has had three presidents, the longest of whom is Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for 17 years. Russia boasts among the world's most powerful armies and is among the world's top five defense spenders. Russia spent $61.7 billion on the military in 2020, accounting for 11.4 percent of total government spending. According to the Stockholm Intl. Peace Research Institute, Ukraine spent $5.9 billion on its armed forces, or 8.8 percent of total government spending.
Putin, a former operative of the Soviet Union's KGB secret services, approved a decree in 2021 that effectively extends his reign until 2036. Putin has stated numerous times that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people” and that they are both parts of the historical “Russian culture,” which includes Belarus. Ukrainians are unconvinced of his statements.
NATO is the most powerful military alliance in the world. Its primary role is to safeguard its member states through political and military means. It is made up of 30 countries. Russia opposes NATO bases near its borders and has demanded formal assurances that the alliance will not expand eastward. Among the Kremlin's main demands is that Ukraine is denied membership inside NATO, which it regards as a red line. This demand has been refused by the United States.
Fearing a Russian ground invasion, NATO allies have ramped up assistance for Kyiv by delivering military weapons to Ukraine since hostilities began. Russian military entered Ukraine after months of tensions and extensive negotiations. There were explosions heard all around the country. Ukraine is all ready to protect itself and Kyiv has declared martial law.
On February 28, 2022, high-level discussions between Kyiv and Moscow came to a conclusion with no agreement other than to continue this discussion. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a no-fly zone, which the White House has rejected.
Battles rage across Ukraine as Russian forces close in on Kyiv, the country's capital and home to three million people. Blasts have also been heard in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, which is located close to the country's Russian border and has a population of roughly 1.5 million people.
A massive Russian military convoy has gathered on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, amid worries that invading forces are preparing to unleash catastrophic assaults to take control of the city.
On March 1, 2022, satellite pictures revealed a protracted build-up of armored vehicles and artillery beginning 29 kilometers (18 miles) north of the city, as Moscow ignored rising international pressure as well as a wave of international sanctions that have crippled Russia's economy.
In the aftermath of Russia's invasion, about 680,000 people fled Ukraine to Poland and other neighboring nations. According to the most recent figure, 281,000 persons entered Poland, 84,500 in Hungary, 36,400 in Moldova, over 32,500 in Romania, and 30,000 in Slovakia. The rest were scattered across unidentifiable countries.
The exact number of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers killed so far is unknown. We track where the fighting is taking place and how we got here as the Russian operations become more and more belligerent.
The fall of the Soviet Union is at the foundation of the present situation between Ukraine and Russia. So, when the Soviet Union fell apart in the early 1990s, Ukraine, an ex-Soviet country, held the world's third-biggest nuclear arsenal. Ukraine was helped to de-nuclearize by the United States and Russia, and in a sequence of diplomatic agreements, Kyiv handed up hundreds of nuclear warheads to Russia in return for safety assurances against such a possible Russian attack.
Those assurances were sorely tested when Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014. Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula and backed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine's Donbas area. Almost 14,000 people have died as a result of the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. Widespread protests in Ukraine resulted in the fall of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, prompting Russia's attack.
US ambassadors paid a symbolic visit to the protesters, angering Putin. President Barack Obama took his time preparing a diplomatic reaction in Europe, was aware of deteriorating relations with Russia, and did not initially deliver lethal weapons to the Ukrainians.
Many countries were surprised that the [post-Soviet] agreement's violation went undiscovered. It basically proved that “carrying nuclear arms—as Russia has—inoculates you against big international acts.”
Even the idea of a post-Soviet Europe contributes to the current predicament. Putin has indeed been hell-bent on reclaiming some semblance of power that he thinks he lost once the Soviet Union disintegrated. Ukraine is central to this vision.
Putin has asserted that Russians and Ukrainians “were one people—one whole,” or would have been if other powers (like the West) had not interfered with building a “wall” between them.
As per President Joe Biden, Ukraine would not join NATO anytime soon. Any strike on a NATO country is handled as an invasion of the entire alliance, according to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, suggesting that any military Russia interaction with a theoretical NATO-member Ukraine will indeed theoretically carry Moscow into a dispute with the US, France, UK, and the other 27 NATO members. However, it is the fourth-largest recipient of US military aid, and the intelligence relationship between the two states has increased as a result of Russian worries. Ukraine will not join NATO, and Putin, as well as the Kremlin, are very well aware of this.
On the other side, Ukraine became a NATO unofficial member without making a formal pledge. That's why Putin sees Ukraine's pro-European Union and pro-NATO posture as a threat to Russia's global defense. In a word, the Russia–Ukraine conflict is a continuance of the one that started in 2014.