Russian Vs Ukraine is an escalating conflict that has put the world on alert. It is also a geopolitical flash point in Europe and an important turning point for global security.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has waged a devastating war against the country since that time, causing widespread civilian casualties and fuelling a refugee crisis. In the face of overwhelming Russian forces, Ukrainian forces have mounted a fierce defense and are regaining territory.

The armed conflict has had an enormous impact on Ukraine, which is now a frontline state in the European Union (EU). Markets are disrupted and prices for key commodities are skyrocketing.

In Kyiv, a deep internal divide exists between the majority of citizens who support greater integration with Europe and the minority who favor closer ties with Russia. This split was exacerbated after the seizure of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and the ensuing conflict in the southeast.

After the invasion, President Vladimir Putin vowed that Russia would protect its territorial integrity and promised to send an army into the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as “peacekeepers.” He also illegally annexed four more Ukrainian regions—Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv—to bolster his cause.

In the months that followed, Kyiv mounted a number of counteroffensives against the Russians that drove them out of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts in late August, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in November. The Ukrainian military has suffered major setbacks in the course of the fighting, but it appears capable of regaining territory and defeating the Russians once and for all.