A Sphere of Fractured Influence: Why Putin Has Waged Unprovoked War in Ukraine and NATO’s Involvement in Aiding the Crisis
Ukrainian soldiers patrol the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine. Source: (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Over the past month, Russian President Vladimir Putin has deployed over 150,00 Russian forces to the country of Ukraine. Though Russian troops have been met with a determined Ukrainian resistance that has tentatively stalled the Russian invasion, capturing the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv remains a Russian priority. However, despite this explosion of Russian military aggression, tensions between Ukraine and Russia have been developing since 2014 — when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula after pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was forced out of power by protesters.
Putin has justified Ukraine’s invasion by claiming that he intends to “protect people subjected to bullying and genocide and aim[s] for the demilitarisation and de-Natzificaion of Ukraine.” Yet, the Russian military shelling of a Holocaust memorial in Kyiv implies a vastly different Russian initiative. Additionally, no such genocide has taken place in Ukraine and the country has remained committed to a democratic style of government, headed by Jewish President Volodymyr Zelensky. And since 2014, after pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was forced out of political power, Ukraine has gravitated toward the European Union and the West’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization, despite disapproval from neighboring Russia.
Given the history of political and ideological conflict between Western nations and Russia, recent Ukrainian alignment with Western nations as well as NATO has been perceived as a betrayal by Putin. With former Soviet nations like Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania already members of NATO, Putin faces a waning sphere of Russian influence in Eastern Europe. Putin’s manifestation of war in Ukraine reveals his fear of losing political influence, as demonstrated by his impetuous and desperate military endeavor to maintain political influence and power over Ukraine.
Despite Ukraine’s interest in joining NATO and President Biden’s commitment to maintaining the alliance’s “Open Door” policy to European states, Ukrainian membership to the alliance has been met with reluctance. Both France and Germany, among other nations, have opposed Ukrainian membership as it would obligate all NATO members to defend Ukraine against Russia and other opposing forces. As a result, NATO membership is not in Ukraine’s foreseeable future — affecting the way NATO member states are currently helping Ukraine.
Though NATO members have met the invasion with outrage and diplomatic attempts have been made to inhibit an invasion, all member nations, including the United States, are refusing to send military troops directly into Ukraine and engage in warfare. And though US reluctance to get directly involved could be seen as selfish and isolationist, as a part of NATO, if there were to be US military involvement in Ukraine it would subject every other member of NATO to potential military escalation and could even risk a US declaration of war against Russia, which would also force NATO allies to get involved militarily. However, the U.S. currently has approximately 90,000 troops in Germany with plans to send an additional 7,000. Furthermore, NATO announced for the first time that it plans to deploy precautionary combat-ready forces in Eastern Europe, in addition to sending weapons and air defense supplies to the besieged country.
In a further attempt to indirectly end Russia’s military invasion, the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan have all placed harsh sanctions on Russia, which seek to destabilize Russia’s economy and ability to engage in military endeavors. Additionally, Germany has shifted recent policy to allow both the Netherlands to send 400 rocket-propelled grenades and Estonia to send nine Soviet-made howitzers to Ukraine.
Though the thought of a full-scale war in the 21st century is perplexing and distressing, for many across the world, the efforts in stopping the Russian military invasion speak to a globally recognized sentiment of the value of freedom and democracy.