Russia-Ukraine : Interweaving History of Conflict (Part-2)
The Second World War
The Second World War started in 1939, when Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland, the Soviet Union taking most of Eastern Poland. To Stalin’s surprise, Nazi Germany with its allies invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Initially, the Germans were greeted as liberators by some of the Ukrainian populace but they were gravely mistaken. An estimated 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews perished, and over 800,000 were displaced to the east. Some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground formed a Ukrainian Insurgent Army that fought both Soviet forces and the Nazi. Others collaborated with the Germans. Between 1941 and 1944, the Red Army resisted the Nazis on Soviet territory. By 1944, they pushed the Nazis back westward and reclaimed the Nazi-occupied territories of Byelorussia, Ukraine, the Baltic region, and eastern Poland. Fighting between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union continued until the capture of Berlin and the German surrender to the Allies in May 1945.
Russification
Due to Stalin’s policies, a terrible famine broke out in Ukraine in 1930. This deliberate and calculated famine cost the lives of 4 million people in central and eastern Ukraine. It is known as “Holodmor” which translates to “Death by Hunger” in Ukrainian. It made the process of forceful implementation of Russian culture on the Ukrainians easier. Brazenly, Russia refuses to call this a genocide in 2008 stating, “There is no historical proof that this famine was organized along ethnic lines.” It is the chief reason behind weak nationalism in the Eastern part of Ukraine.
Cold War
During the Cold War, Ukraine acted as a prominent hub for military research purposes. A class shift was seen as many leaders, sportspersons and other notable personalities emerged from this region. This gave Ukraine a notable prestige among the other Soviet states. Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev were two notable politicians in the above category. The peninsula called Crimea harbored major military structures. It was “gifted” to the Ukraine SSR as friendly gesture and as a symbol of goodwill; Khrushchev played a major role.
The Fall of Soviet Union
During the period of 1988–91, Soviet Union disassembled falling victim to public displeasure with the govt. and failing economy post world war. All the 15 stated emerged as independent nations. Ukraine received a handful of military resources due to prior contributions. This caused confusion as many Russians claimed this shouldn’t happen as Russian administrators dictated Soviet politics. Ukraine gave up the nuclear weapons assured that they would receive protection from foreign attacks and invasions. The Budapest Memorandum was signed in 1994 The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation was signed in 1997.
21st Century
Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian took office as Ukraine’s president on February, 2010. He let Russia exert more influence on the internal politics of Ukraine. After he decided to refuse EU in a trade deal and accept a whopping 15 billion dollars deal with Russia, mass uproar started. The public movement saw a loss of 77 protesters. Yanukovych fled to Russia after getting ousted in Euromaidan. Losing his puppet, Putin decided to retaliate by annexing Crimea. Amidst tensed environment, a referendum took place among the Crimean citizens where most of them voted in favour of joining Russia and thus Soviet Union’s gift to Ukraine was snatched back.
The 2019 parliamentary election saw Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party winning with 72% vote. During the campaign, he vouched to strengthen Ukraine’s sovereignty and decrease Russia’s influence over them. In June 2021, NATO leaders reiterated that Ukraine will eventually become a member state through the MAP and said that Russia would have no influence on Ukraine’s application to the alliance. This raised tensions between the two neighboring countries and thus, the present war began.
