1 Year of War In Ukraine: Part One

February 24th, three days ago, marked the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So we have decided to do a two-part series, looking back on the past year of the war. You’re currently reading part one.

The war started one year ago when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “special military operation” to supposedly protect Russian civilians living in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. That was their way of phrasing “let’s invade Ukraine”, and most of the world interpreted it as so. But contrary to past examples of countries invading other countries (like when Iraq invaded Kuwait), the world was hesitant to react. It isn’t that other countries can’t do anything, but how modern war has changed compared to before the 21st century.

When talking about war, we often think of thousands of soldiers with weapons marching toward the enemy. This image is correct, though the modern conflict has changed. In medieval times, troops wielded swords, crossbows, and shields. Fast forward to the First and Second World Wars, soldiers used grenades, guns, and tanks. In today’s world, weapons are more destructive than ever. Countries like the United States, China, and Russia, have slowly stockpiled nuclear weapons arsenals and developed newer, more advanced weapons systems like anti-tank missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles, etc. A direct war between these military superpowers could risk a devastating third-world war.

So when thousands of Russian troops stepped into Ukrainian territory, Western countries reacted more passively by imposing hundreds of sanctions on Russia’s economy. However, these countries also provided Ukraine with some of their advanced weapons. The sanctions partly targeted vast oil and natural gas exports Russia made to European countries and others. EU countries relied heavily on these Russian imports, so limiting these prices would ideally also restrain the money the Russian government got and less money to fund its military campaign. However, the effectiveness of these sanctions is still up in the air, as President Putin hasn’t retreated.

So that’s about the world’s response to the Russian invasion. What about the actual war status in Ukraine over the past year? At the beginning of the war, the more powerful Russian army got projected to hit the Ukrainian defence hard, and the war would be over quickly. But the Ukrainian forces turned out quite hard to take down. With the weapons the West had provided, the Ukrainian army fought hard and pushed back on many fronts against Russian troops. So what caused Russia to fail in invading Ukraine and turning the conflict into a long war?

We’ll be back to answer that question, and more, in part two of this series. That’s the end of this production, and remember to come back next week for more analysis.