Issues Under Fire: Understanding the Battle for Ukraine

Donetsk International Airport Reduced to Rubble

Issues Under Fire: Understanding the Battle for Ukraine 

Now that Ukraine officially qualifies as a bonafide civil war with little hope left of reaching a civil understanding, we think its imperative we're all clear on the circumstances that brought us to this point. The Western perspective as presented by the Obama administration says Vladimir Putin is aggressively grabbing territory to rebuild the glory days of Mother Russia (Rodina-Mat).  

According to hawks in the U.S. Congress, Russia won't be satisfied with Ukraine and will eventually test borders and boundaries elsewhere in eastern Europe. If not confronted forcefully, Vladimir Putin will feel he has a free hand in expanding Russia's sphere of economic and military influence at the expense of Western interest. From sanctions designed to cripple Russia's economy, to the latest considerations of providing lethal military assistance to counter Pro-Russian forces, the United States and European allies have raised the stakes and the heat in this brewing conflict. 

However, as per usual, there's always another narrative to be considered and that's what this post hopes to present. From Vladimir Putin's perspective, the actions Russia took in Ukraine were purely proactive, preemptive and defensive responses to Western encroachment. When Ukraine began to collapse under the weight of decades of corruption and economic incompetence, Putin found himself in a bidding war with Western Europe for real estate Russia needed as a buffer zone from Western interest. 

Not wanting to wake up one morning to find NATO allies conducting war games in his backyard, Vladimir Putin took measures any leader would take to protect the integrity of his nation's perimeters. Since Ukraine was crumbling from within anyway, (with a little instigating) Putin just stood by and picked the pieces. 

When Russian speaking separatist refused to backdown from demanding a space of their own to determine their own destiny and were clearly prepared to fight for that right, Putin, the consummate strategist seized a glaring opportunity. Crimea was ripe for the picking, so he grabbed it. As the fight pushed further into Kiev controlled territories, Russia happily provided willing rebellious fighters what they needed to secure and hold strategic locations.  

Bottom line: As long as Ukraine remained uncommitted to either the East or the West, Russia could have been satisfied with the status quo. However, when that space became contested and up for grabs, Russia found it impossible not to intervene. The question American and European citizens must answer is, which narrative is to be believed and which is worth escalating the conflict for.