First, the historical origin
In 862 AD, the East Slavic tribes occupied Kiev and established the Kyovan Rus' Principality. After that, the East Slavic tribes gradually divided into Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, and Kievan Rus' was a common political starting point and a common ancestor. Even at present, their language, culture and living customs are still similar. The East Slavs also became the common ancestor of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. At about the end of the 15th century AD, the Russians gradually formed a unified feudal state centered on the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which was later Tsarist Russia.
From about the 14th century onwards, Ukrainians began to break away from the Ancient Rus and form a single people with a unique language, culture and living customs. Ukraine has always been a strategic place, a place where soldiers must fight. He fought against Mongol, Germanic, and Ottoman Turk invasions, and was later ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Russian Empire, and Poland.
Second, East and West Ukraine
In 1654, the Ukrainian Cossack leader Khmelnytsky signed the Treaty of Pereyaslav with the Russian Tsar, inviting Tsarist Russia to rule eastern Ukraine, and since then Eastern Ukraine (on the left bank of the Dnieper River) has been formally merged with the Russian Empire, beginning a history of alliance between Ukraine and Russia. At the end of 1917, Soviet power of a socialist nature was established in eastern Ukraine and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was established.
In 1922, the Soviet Union was formed, and Eastern Ukraine joined the Union, becoming one of the founding members of the Soviet Union. Under the Treaty of Riga signed between Poland and the Soviet Union, Western Ukraine became Polish territory. In November 1939, World War II broke out, Poland was divided and occupied, and Western Ukraine was merged with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
On June 22, 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out, the war first burned to Ukraine, the Soviet Union in Kiev, Ukraine, the Soviet Union lost about 700,000 soldiers, Germany as desired to occupy the entire territory of Ukraine. The point is, if Europe is to attack the Soviet Union (Russia), it must pass through Ukraine!
Iii. Crimea
Bordering the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783. In 1954, the then Soviet leader Khrushchev, in celebration of the 300th anniversary of the merger of Russia and Ukraine, allocated the Crimean Peninsula from Russia to Ukraine, which was just an ordinary change within the Soviet administrative region. The main land link between Crimea and the Russian mainland was severed by the Kerch Strait, which instead bordered Ukraine overland. The difficulty of transporting supplies and people from Russia to Crimea is greater than the difficulty of moving from Ukraine.
The strategic location of the Crimean Peninsula never needs to be questioned, it is Russia's outlet to the Black Sea, where the Russians have always fought very hard against the Turks, nine times with the Turks, and the Crimean War with the Western Allies.
Fourth, Ukraine once again becomes independent
On August 24, 1991, the Ukrainian government officially declared independence from the Soviet Union and changed the name of the country to Ukraine. An important issue, at this time in eastern Ukraine and crimea, the majority of people of the Russian nation. During the Soviet period, there were two more major events.
During the great famine of the 1930s, more than a million people died unnaturally in Ukraine, and although the responsibility should be mainly attributed to Stalin, a Georgian, Ukraine did not want to care so much, and they believed that the pot should be carried by Russia.
The second was the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Ukrainian soil in 1986, which caused the Ukrainian people's confidence in the Soviet Union to collapse.
After independence, Ukraine is still good, with the second largest land area in Europe (more than 600,000 square kilometers), a population of more than 40 million, and its military strength can rank third in the world, and it is also the world's third nuclear power, second only to the United States and Russia. An engine manufacturer with the heart of the Soviet aviation industry, Soviet-era aircraft carriers were built in Ukraine, and the Varyag aircraft carriers that Chinese were very familiar with were produced by the Black Sea Shipyard.
Most of Ukraine belongs to the Eastern European Plain, two-thirds of the soil area is black soil, accounting for 1/4 of the world's total black soil, is the world's third largest food exporter.
5. Apply for nato membership
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was born and existed in response to the Soviet Union (Russia), which possessed a large number of nuclear weapons and conventional forces, and was a sign of the leadership of the United States as a world superpower, allowing the United States to control the defense system of the European Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the former Warsaw Pact members and the former Soviet republics that were separated from the Soviet Union joined NATO one after another. Russia and NATO's constant negotiations and negotiations to prevent these countries from joining have been ineffective.
On April 30, 2019, the famous Ukrainian actor Zelenskiy was elected president. Zelenskiy has repeatedly said that joining NATO can "ensure national security", and stressed that joining the European Union and NATO are written into the constitution as the basic policy of the country.
Putin has repeatedly and publicly warned that if Ukraine joins NATO, Russia will not rule out military action to defend national security.
VI. In summary:
Russia's invasion of a sovereign country is certainly a problem in legal terms, but from a practical point of view, it is also a helpless choice, and it cannot wait for Ukraine to join NATO, NATO's military organization is arranged at Russia's doorstep, and there will be no buffer zone between it and NATO. As mentioned above, the Soviet-German War broke out, the Battle of Kiev, and the Soviet Union lost about 700,000 soldiers.
As a neighbor of Russia, it is the best policy to choose the Finnish model, develop its economy well, and improve the living standards of its people.