Russia/Ukraine | Graphic by Grace Merkle | The Wright State Guardian
On the morning of Feb. 24, 2022, Russia invaded its neighboring country Ukraine. Leading up to the invasion, Russian troops surrounded the border with around 200,000 troops according to the U.S. News and World Report.
Russia’s interest in the region dates back to when the Soviet Union used the territory of Ukraine as a buffer state to prevent direct attacks towards the country from the west.
Today, the primary motive for this invasion by Russia is to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, a military alliance formed between 28 European countries and two North American. Due to the stress upon NATO nations and the growing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the war is gaining global attention.
Wright State students such as Brayden Rhoads gave their opinion on the conflict.
“It’s definitely very upsetting for me seeing millions of refugees leave their country because of Russia invading them,” Rhoads said. “I think it’s saddening also since Ukraine has requested to join NATO and we rejected them because of this issue they have with Russia. I do think there is more we can do”
“I think it’s a pretty bad thing for one nation to invade another. I think the fact that we are so focused on this conflict is an issue, though, since we aren’t focusing on many other wars that are going on all over the world. The invasion of Yemen from Saudi Arabia is a big thing; there are also so many groups of people outside of Europe who are facing the same things and sometimes even worse” Ryan Diaz, an international studies senior, said
