Author: Monsoon
If you use a poem to summarize the relationship between Ukraine and Russia, it is Li Qingzhao's sentence: cut continuously, rationalization is still chaotic...
In Russian, Ukrainian means remote. But in fact, Ukraine is the real birthplace of the East Slavs. The Formation of Kievan Rus' around Kiev is considered the origin of Russian history. Russian President Vladimir Putin also admitted: "Kiev is the mother of Russian cities, Guros is our common source, and we cannot survive without each other." This shows what Ukraine means to Russia.
In the 13th century, the Mongol armies conquered large areas of Eastern Europe, and Ukraine and Russia began their own independent development. After the weakening of the Mongol Golden Horde, Russia formed a contending principality for dominance, and eventually the Muscovite Principality gradually achieved unification, which was the source of Tsarist Russia, which later shocked Europe.
Mongol cavalry
After the collapse of Kievan Rus' in Ukraine, for a long time there was no real state, only a number of cossack autonomous political entities emerged. It was not until early 1648 that a Cossack revolt broke out in Ukraine led by Bogdan Khmelnytsky in order to resist Polish rule. The uprising was grandiose and received a positive response from Ukrainian peasants, quickly sweeping through ukraine. The uprising eventually developed into a war of national liberation against foreign aggression and domination, for freedom and the establishment of a Ukrainian state.
Later, in response to the threats of Poland, Lithuania and Turkey, and to preserve Ukraine's autonomy and survival, Khmelnytsky was forced to seek refuge from Russia. On 18 January 1654, at the Rada (Mass Assembly) held in the city of Pereyaslav, it was publicly decided that the part of Ukraine under the control of the Khmelnytsky regime would be merged into the Russian Empire.
Polish wing cavalry, once terrified the surrounding countries
Since then, Tsarist Russia has used various methods to pocket most of Ukraine. In 1917, the February Revolution ended the rule of the Tsar. Ukraine won a brief period of independence, and after the October Revolution, it became a stage for many forces to compete, and eventually Soviet Ukraine won the victory.
In 1922, Ukraine joined the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and became one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union. In the Soviet era, the Kiev Military District has always been the largest military region in the Soviet Union, and a number of famous Soviet generals, including Marshal Zhukov, have served as commanders of the Kiev Military District.
Zhukov, representative of the Soviet Union in World War II
It was not until 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, that Ukraine regained its independence.
It can be said that the history of Ukraine in recent centuries is inseparable from Russia, and the two countries have many historical celebrities in common. The religion and culture of the Russians originated in Kievan Rus' and without Ukraine, there is indeed a lot of indescribable content that Russian history wants to write.
Black Sea Fleet
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the two countries lived side by side for a while. After the partition of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, the Russian Black Sea Fleet remained stationed at the Sevastopol military port on the Crimean Peninsula. Pipelines to Europe also pass through Ukrainian soil, sending clean energy from Russia to Western European countries.
While Russia is making a lot of energy wealth, Ukraine is also making money by relying on this energy artery, charging a considerable amount of transit fees every year. A large number of military-industrial enterprises in eastern Ukraine also continue to supply Russia with the necessary products.
The calm of everything was shattered with the outbreak of the Orange Revolution. In 2004, the pro-Western Yushchenko came to power with the help of the Orange Revolution and was elected president of Ukraine. His partner, the oligarchy Tymoshenko, became prime minister. Since then, Ukraine has begun to frantically test on the brink of death. In order to gain the trust of the Western world, Ukraine began to provoke Russia in various ways. Russian-Ukrainian relations began to deteriorate, but far from being irreconcilable.
Yushchenko and Tymoshenko combine Russian-Ukrainian relations to deteriorate, and they are indispensable
However, subsequent developments have further deteriorated relations between the two countries. During Yushchenko's administration, the economic situation in Ukraine not only did not improve, but further deteriorated. Popular discontent was quickly reflected in the elections. In the 2010 Ukrainian presidential elections, there were serious divisions between the east and the west of Ukraine. The eastern region mainly supported Yanukovych, while the western region mainly supported Tymoshenko, and the result was that Yanukovych won.
After his election, Yanukovych sought to strike a balance between the parties, but the antagonism between ukraine's east and west has been formed and difficult to resolve. Later events are familiar to military fans, when civil war broke out in Ukraine, and pro-Western Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian eastern militias mingled together. Russia took Crimea back in 2014.
Satellite view of the Crimean Peninsula
For Russia, a Ukraine that has turned to the West is unacceptable, and a Ukraine that is trying to join NATO will not tolerate it.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been under enormous pressure from NATO's eastward expansion. Poland and other countries joined NATO, and the most classic route of Western Europe invading Russia was opened. From Poland, he took Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and drove directly to Smolensk, thus threatening Moscow. This was the line of napoleon and Hitler's offensive, and Russia paid a very heavy price in both wars. Fortunately, Belarus has not been dealing with western countries for various reasons, and this line does not seem to be very threatening at present.
Kaliningrad
Although the three Baltic states have also joined NATO, the territory of these three countries is limited, and it is difficult to deploy large-scale troops. Moreover, they are under attack from the Kaliningrad oblast of Russia and the mainland. With Kaliningrad's geographical superiority, the large-scale concentration of forces and weapons in Western countries is difficult to hide from Russia's eyes.
In this state, starting from Ukraine, it becomes a very attractive route. Not to mention that Ukraine's abundant agricultural products have made logistics less troublesome, that is, the strategic posture after crossing Ukraine is enough to make Russia panic. Ukraine's next step is the vast southern land, which is the key to Moscow's connection between the Far East and the Caucasus.
It was from here that the Fuehrer set out and pounced on Stalingrad. The Fuehrer's goal was to capture it, to the north from the flanks to Moscow, further south to the oil- and gas-rich Caucasus, and to the east to cut off reinforcements and logistical supplies from the Asian region. At that time, the Soviet army fought hard to defeat the Fuehrer's plan, and if it was replaced by a Western army that was now extremely superior in equipment and logistics, there were many doubts about whether the Russian army could block the momentum of the attack, not to mention the huge casualties that could be brought.
What is even more frightening for Russia now is that the vast majority of the exported energy on which the economy depends also comes from the vast siberia and the steep Caucasus Mountains. Once the security of these economic lifelines is threatened, whether Russia's economy can sustain itself is unknown. At that time, Russia's only choice was to completely fall to some eastern power. This is unacceptable to the passer-by who presents himself as the Third Rome.
People of insight in Russia cannot sit idly by while Ukraine completely falls to the West. At the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, the leader of the Russian Communist Party, Zyuganov, urged Putin to send troops to Ukraine, believing that Crimea and Kharkov were once Russian territories in history and could not sit idly by now. Now Russia has taken back Crimea, recognized the independence of eastern Ukraine, and even sent troops to Russia to create a buffer zone to avoid Russia facing the blade of NATO countries.
At present, the war in Ukraine still shows no signs of stopping, and the extent to which the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments will go in the future is probably only given time to answer.