On February 20th, 2014, Russia invaded the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. In the end, Russia would end up annexing Crimea one month later, and Ukraine was never the same since.
Today, the unrest caused by Russia’s sudden invasion seems to be escalating very quickly. This is shown by the 130,000 troops surrounding the Ukrainian border and copious amounts of medical units, military equipment, and things a nation would only have to move to a border if a plan for another invasion was intended. Other territories in Ukraine are held by Moscow (Russia’s capital) separatists who have been waiting for Russia to take the territory as well.
The other big issue with this is the result of a Russo-Ukrainian conflict in Europe rather than just the country of Ukraine. Because Ukraine is mostly regarded as a NATO territory (since 2020) they are protected by other NATO nations. This includes the USA, Canada, UK, France, Turkey, Germany, Poland, and many other countries. NATO’s agreement to other NATO territories is that if any of their territories are invaded, NATO is obligated to assist in resistance toward the invading force. If Russia were to go to war with Ukraine, other NATO territories would have to step in due to the threat of other NATO territories. The USA and Biden administration have already gotten involved. The US alone had deployed 3,000 US soldiers to display NATO’s involvement.
But, why is Russia doing this? No one can seem to pinpoint a specific reason but it all started during the 2019 Ukrainian election of Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky’s story is strange, due to the fact that he was a comedian who pretended to be president, and then actually became the president. Zelensky wants Ukraine to become more involved with the EU and NATO. Putin and Russia on the other hand want the complete opposite for Ukraine. Ever since the fall of the USSR (Soviet Union), Russia lost a lot of territories. Ukraine was one of them, which was an important asset for Russia due to how Ukraine borders the Black Sea. Russia wants Ukraine to be more like themselves so they can maintain a “Russian Mindset” as Putin has stated.
It all comes down to Russia and what they will do about Ukraine. The US claims they’re “ready” for Russia’s next move and Ukraine is also mobilizing troops. Could this lead to a 3rd world war? It’s hard to say, however, if it were to happen then the use of Nuclear weapons is a possibility, which can lead to something that will impact an entire world for sure.