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Tag: Ukraine against Russia

  • Ukraine Braces For War, Hopes For The Best

    Ukraine Braces For War, Hopes For The Best

    Ukraine is in the grips of a terrifying sense of deja vu brought on by an increasingly aggressive Russia.

    Following the successful ouster of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, the fledgling Ukranian government has attempted to steer its troubled nation in a direction towards joining the European Union. The move has been fought every step of the way by Russian President Vladmir Putin, who views parts of Ukraine as too valuable a strategic location to surrender to the West.

    Even so, Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula over the weekend can be viewed as unjust in that it’s not Russian territory and has not been for decades.

    Ukraine has been its own independent nation since 1991, when the parliament declared the country an independent democratic state and elections were first held. This includes the pro-Russia, but ultimately Ukrainian, territory of Crimea.

    Now, nearly twenty three years after the bloody separation that lead to its independence, Ukraine is on the threshold of war with neighboring Russia. Putin received permission from the Russian parliament to send troops to Crimea in a move he claims is meant to protect the ethnic Russians of the region.

    It had earlier been speculated that Yanukovych had been hiding in the region in a bid to escape arrest. It has now been confirmed that he is in Russia, hoping to use his connections in Moscow to make a return to power.

    The pro-Western citizens of Ukraine are expected to once again march of the capital city Kiev in a display of condemnation against Russia sending soldiers into the country and an affirmation of the desire of the new government to break ties with Moscow and embrace the rest of Europe.

    The response to the military aggression of Russia in Ukraine has by the international community has been overwhelmingly negative. President Obama was said to have engaged in a rather heated exchange with with Putin over the phone. The stance of the White House is that Putin’s sending thousands of troops into Crimea was a blatant violation of “Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

    Despite Ukraine making preparations for war with Russia, leaders are hoping for the best. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk remained optimistic that war would ultimately be avoided based on the fact that it would jeopardize forever the relationship between the two countries.

    Image via YouTube

  • Lenin Statue Toppled In Kiev, Ukraine

    The familiar statue of Vladimir Lenin in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, is no longer standing. It has managed to stay erect since the 1950’s, but today, it is broken and shattered. Crowds tore and maimed it, attacking it with hammers, ropes and their bare hands in the latest mass protest against President Viktor Yanukovich’s plans for creating closer ties with Russia.

    Pro-European demonstrators knocked down the statute of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union after rival leaders told hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to “keep up pressure” on Yanukovich to sack his government.

    The Telegraph called it: “the biggest show of strength against the government yet seen in two weeks of demonstrations.”

    The demonstrators are furious with the Yanukovich government for abandoning a landmark pact with the European Union for a trade deal with Moscow, endangering economic stability for the former Soviet republic of 46 million people.

    Yanukovich’s sudden pact with Russia has created a lot of anger and frustration with Ukrainians. And is just the tip of the iceberg that came after weeks of confrontations and protests between authorities and protesters. Russia is the enemy for the hundreds of thousands who marched in demonstration to stop Kiev from joining a new Moscow-led customs union.

    “This is a decisive moment when all Ukrainians have gathered here because they do not want to live in a country where corruption rules and where there is no justice,” said world heavyweight boxing champion-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko.

    The massive crowds in a Kiev square are also demanding Yanukovich’s resignation. Vitali Kitchko, who is beginning to be seen as a president in waiting, called on the crowd of at least 200,000 to maintain pressure on the government.

    “The dictator will not go away himself. He must be made to leave. Therefore, we are expanding our pressure on the government and we will force Yanukovich to fulfill the demands of the people.” Kitchko told the crowd.

    “We are on a razor’s edge between a final plunge into cruel dictatorship and a return home to the European community,” jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said in an emotional message to the crowd, read out by her daughter Yevgenia.

    Yanukovich and Putin, who regard Ukraine as essential to Moscow’s interests, are strongly believed to have struck a bargain in gas and credits, in exchange for backing away from the EU.

    Sales worker Sviatislav Zaporozhit, 26, said: “The current authorities have been completely discredited by their actions and the police brutality. What unites everyone here is a desire to see a change of government.”

    “I don’t want to go back to what my parents lived under the Soviet Union … When I am old, I want to live like people in Europe. I want to live in a normal country.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons