Exhibition: 2022 Ukraine War
This exhibition is meant to provide some history to the current war between Russia and Ukraine. Through pictures, we will look at how Russia and Ukraine got to this point, and why two countries that share historic and cultural ties become entangled in a conflict never before seen in Europe since the Kosovo War.
For almost a year, Russia has been invading Ukraine territory. Most people in the west condemned Russia as an aggressor for inflicting war on Ukraine. The US and EU sanctioned Russia, called Putin a war criminal and shut down the Nord stream pipeline through Ukraine, creating an energy crisis, and seeing soaring gas prices. The United States have sent millions of dollars in cash and weaponry, beefing up Ukraine’s defenses in a new proxy war that threatens nuclear war. But no one understands the causes of this conflict that has involved the western world.
In modern history, Russia and Ukraine were both part of and founding members of the Soviet Union. Ukraine was a very vital republic, having been the major center of airplane manufacturing, and being the breadbasket for the country. Ukrainians took part in the second world war under the Soviet Army, and helped their countrymen liberate Europe from Nazism. The two countries split up in 1991, when leaders from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed a document called the Belavezha accords, bringing the Soviet Union to an end. Both countries became part of the Confederation of Independent States, a loosely organized economic successor to the USSR, and both countries continued to enjoy some form of relative peace and security.
Peace in Ukraine came to an end in January 2014, with the start of the Maidan Coup. Pro-EU
and Pro-NATO protesters supported by armed right wing organizations overthrew the
government of Victor Yanukovyck, and in its placed, a new government was
formed of oligarchs that broke the friendly relationship with Russia
and allowed Ukrainian Nationalist groups to terrorize the ethnic Russian
populations, and conducted attacks in eastern regions
A group known as the Right Sector tortured and burned alive almost 50 people at a Trade union building in the city of Odessa. This happened to strike fear into the opposition to the Maidan Coup. Many Russians feared for their lives as Nazi sympathizers, like the Right Sector and Svoboda, another Ultranationalist group that had members inside the Ukrainian government, were gaining more and more power across the country.
started a referendum on secession and independence from Ukraine. The referendum was universally popular, and Crimea became its own independent state, and later requested to be included into the Russian Federation. Many in the western world did not recognize the referendum, and called Crimea’s accession into Russia as an illegal annexation. Similar referendums occurred in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and they too split from Ukraine. The breakaway states wanted to join Russia as well, but Russia refused to incorporate these two states, and refused to recognize them as sovereign states. It wasn’t until 2022, after Ukraine's offensive against these two breakaway states, that Russia as well as the DPRK and Syria recognized the independence of these two nations.
Russia supported the breakaway regions for 8 years, with limited support. Volunteers from the Russian Federation fought against the Ukrainian Armed forces, as they routinely shelled homes, villages, and other civilian infrastructures. In 2015, France, Germany, and Russia agreed on the Minsk Accords, which hoped to limit the fighting and bring autonomy to these regions, but to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The US continued to support Ukraine, and refused to support the Minsk accords. Crimea was never recognized
as an independent state, and Ukraine continued to request NATO assistance, and even applied for NATO membership. Even though Ukraine accepted the Minsk accords, they continued to conduct bombings of Donetsk and Luhansk regularly from 2014-2022.
Russia supported the breakaway regions for 8 years, with limited support. Volunteers from the Russian Federation fought against the Ukrainian Armed forces, as they routinely shelled homes, villages, and other civilian infrastructures. In 2015, France, Germany, and Russia agreed on the Minsk Accords, which hoped to limit the fighting and bring autonomy to these regions, but to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The US continued to support Ukraine, and refused to support the Minsk accords. Crimea was never recognized as an independent state, and Ukraine continued to
The war escalated in early 2022, after President Biden continuously warned that Russia was going to invade, after a new round of talks between NATO and Ukraine took place, and the ramp up of fighting in the East. Both Russia and NATO conducted major military build ups in the region. Russia has been opposed to the expansion of NATO to its western frontier, and has been eyeing numerous war games that have gone on over the past several years.
media was banned in the west, and regular Ukrainian fighters were awarded by the media as heroes and martyrs fighting for their cause. On the Russian side, anti war demonstrations were similarly stopped and prevented, and the Russian Army made numerous victories over the year, almost capturing key Ukrainian cities. However in the Summer Russian pulled their troops from the capital, Kiev and Kharkiv, and focused on bolstering the front in Donetsk and Luhansk.
The war is still an on-going war, with no end in sight, as both sides refuse to discuss talks. Original terms for cessation of hostilities was interrupted
Resources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-are-minsk-agreements-ukraine-conflict-2022-02-21/
https://mronline.org/2022/05/16/the-once-bright-city-became-gloomy-and-sad/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/19/odes-j16.html
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