In the recent months, there has been a lot of commotion involving the crisis between Ukraine and Russia. 

After months of tensions on the Ukraine-Russia border, with the buildup of troops, weapons, and tanks, Russia invaded Ukraine with rocket attacks and shelling in the early hours of Thursday, February 24th.

After WWII, Russia and other soviet controlled countries like Romania, Hungary, Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia all signed the Warsaw pact, an alliance meant to counter NATO countries. 

Through the Cold War, various countries that were part of the Warsaw pact switched their governments to democracies and even eventually joined NATO. The nation gained independence in 1991. 

Russia’s empire was gone and Russia does not want a NATO ally for a neighbor.

“Russia Is definitely flexing its powers” AP U.S. History teacher Kesa Kemp. “I think Putin really liked Stalin and in a way, he is trying to be him again.”

After the invasion, Vladimir Putin gave a speech where he declared that his goal with the invasion of Ukraine is to demilitarize it, not to occupy the country.

While Western NATO states, like the U.S. have been warning of an imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged calm in his country because causing panic in Ukraine would only help Russia create more chaos. Now thousands are scrambling to evacuate Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

“It’s a big mess,” Kemp said.

Even though this invasion is happening on another continent, this invasion won’t just affect Ukranians. This invasion means the price of groceries and gas will go up, since Russia is a main supplier of oil, gas, and other raw materials, and stock prices will fall.