Politics

More on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

February 28, 2022

It’s been five days since Russia invaded Ukraine. Here’s what’s been happening to date. 

On Thursday, February 24 Russia invaded Ukraine from three sides and multiple fronts including air, land and sea. There are an estimated 190,000 troops currently targeting Ukraine. 

Explosions and attacks have taken place in all major cities and while the Ukrainian military are still holding onto Kyiv, Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, has just been hit with cluster munitions, leaving more dead and wounded including children. 

While the number of deaths and casualties is hard to calculate, the reported tallies are in the hundreds, with many families torn apart. 

Martial law has been declared. This means that military leaders are now in charge of enforcing the law and civilian leaders such as police officers do not have power. It also means that those who break martial law can be tried in a military tribunal, which again, has its own set of rules and regulations in comparison to a civilian court. 

On Friday, the United Nations Security Council met to vote to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine and called on them to withdraw. Out of the 15 countries in the UNSC, 11 voted to denounce the invasion, three abstained from voting and Russia, unsurprisingly, vetoed the resolution. While the resolution did not pass, the vote has further strengthened the West and its allies' move to politically isolate Russia. 

Sources:
Council on Foreign Relations Daily News Brief
WSJ Capital Journal Newsletter
GZERO
The Washington Post
Al Jazeera
Axios

Words: Alice I’Anson 2022
Cover Image: Foreign Brief

Yesterday, the group met once more, this time to vote on convening for an emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss the invasion. The votes tallied the same way as on Friday however,  Russia were unable to exercise their veto power to dissolve the discussion. The emergency session is expected to be held today. 

Meanwhile, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has made no signs of standing down, however cease-fire talks have begun today at the Ukraine-Belarus border. Neither him nor President Zelensky of Ukraine will be in attendance. As to what these negotiations could include is still unclear. Mr. Zelensky has been abundantly clear that he is not willing to relinquish Ukrainian territory to Russia and Mr. Putin clearly has his eyes set on possession. 

Given the invasion has gone above and beyond what many believed Mr. Putin was prepared to do, what will come next is still an immensely unsettling unknown.