As the conflict in Ukraine escalates, the end seems unclear as the world waits for the next move from Russia and the West.

The Ukrainian conflict has been ongoing since 2014 with small skirmishes happening regularly. However, in the spring of 2021, the violence and outright aggression escalated.

In October of 2021, Russia moved troops near the border of Ukraine. These aggressive movements prompted global concern regarding the possible invasion of Ukraine. Russia perpetuated fear by moving heavy military equipment including missiles toward Ukraine without any official reason.

In a highly contentious move, Russia layout a set of demands in which they asked that Ukraine not become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). These demands were rejected by NATO.

This led to escalating tensions and finally an outright attack from the Russians.

“Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in the WW2 years,” tweeted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, “Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself & won’t give up its freedom no matter what Moscow thinks.”

In response, President Biden called Russia’s actions an “unprovoked and unjustified attack.”

The actions of Russia have prompted swift sanctions with the U.S. Treasury stating, “today’s actions were taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14024, which authorizes sanctions against Russia for its harmful foreign activities, including violating core principles of international law such as respect for the territorial integrity of other states.”

In the preceding months, Russian state media has been airing footage of purported Ukrainian attacks which has since been called ‘crudely fake’ by most Western countries.

“World War Two was a war of necessity. But if Russia attacks Ukraine, it would be a war of choice or a war without cause or reason,” said  President Biden on February 15th, only a week before the invasion.

As events unfold by the moment, the world waits to see if there will be a resolution or an escalation of this conflict.