Click on link for Google Slide Share: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qU5EqUqhXFntc5viHsh1YOXjgws_5hpLW40n3nBC9Uo/edit?usp=sharing
April 2022
Today I will tell you about the war in Ukraine and I will try to do it in detail for those who do not know where Ukraine and Russia are located. In this picture, (slide 2) the country in orange is Ukraine and the country in green is Russia. Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe, and most of Russia is in Asia.
In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, and the US and other guarantors of the Budapest Memorandum allowed it to be done, violating their obligations. What is the Budapest Memorandum? It is an interstate document on security guarantees in connection with Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Signed on December 5, 1994, by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Great Britain, and the USA.
This photo (3) was taken on the 14th January 1994 (from left to right) Bill Clinton (the forty-second president of the United States), Boris Yeltsin (the first president of Russia), and Leonid Kravchuk (the first president of Ukraine), after signing a tripartite statement on further nuclear disarmament of Ukraine. It was also signed by John Major, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Now let's move on to the end of 2013, the beginning of Euromaidan (4). Euromaidan was a mass multi-month protest in the center of Kyiv, which began on November 21, 2013, in response to the suspension by the Ukrainian government of preparations for the signing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union and was supported by protests of the population in other regions of Ukraine. Here are some details about the Euromaidan (5). Date: November 21, 2013 to February 22, 2014 (3 months and 1 day). Reasons for the Euromaidan: Government decision to suspend preparations for signing the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union.
Goals: signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, and after November 30, 2013, the resignation of the government and the president. Methods: (6) student strikes, Internet activism, radical forms of protest clashes with law enforcement officers, blockades of administrative buildings and state authorities in Kyiv, seizure of administrative buildings in the center of Kyiv. After January 22, 2014, seizure of buildings of local authorities and self-government in the regions.
Result: Resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and the escape of President Viktor Yanukovych. At the end of the Euromaidan, when Ukraine was left without a president, the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine in order to occupy Crimea (7) which they did, because in 2014 Ukraine did not have such a strong army as in 2022 to repel the Russian Federation, but neither the United States or Great Britain acted as a guarantor for Ukraine, thereby violating the Budapest Memorandum.
I doubt that it would have been difficult for Barack Obama to drive away the Russian Federation, since the US army had been the strongest for a long time and no one wanted and didn't want to fight with the USA. Despite this, no help was provided to Ukraine. After a short time, Russia easily took control of the Crimea, thereby, also violating the Budapest Memorandum.
A few months later, the Russian Federation captured Lugansk and Donetsk, also successfully occupying them (8). Fast forward to the morning of February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an appeal to start a “special military operation.” Russia started invading the territory of Ukraine. The Russian army is in the top five strongest armies in the world, while the Ukrainian army is only in the top 20. Belarus is helping Russia or, rather, the President of Belarus, Lukashenko, is helping through the territory of Belarus. Russian equipment enters the territory of Ukraine. In this photo (9), we observe that planes do not risk flying over Ukraine and southwest Russia, as they will immediately be shot down by missiles from the Russian Federation.
Let's start with the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, on the twenty-fourth of February (on the first day of the war) at five in the morning, the inhabitants of Kyiv woke up to not the most pleasant of sounds, but the sounds of powerful explosions. After they heard them, people divided into two groups. Some began to collect their things and leave the city (10) while others began to prepare for life with military conditions. They stocked up on cash, food, and medicine.
According to the Russian authorities, they only blew up military facilities (11), but I think you will agree that it looks more like an ordinary apartment in which ordinary people live rather than a military facility that is a “threat to all of Russia.” There are thousands of such photos and videos where Russian missiles fly into residential buildings throughout Ukraine.
The city of Dnipro is the city in which I lived most of my life. The Dnipro airport from which I fly into and out of my city, on the night of March 15, 2022, two missile attacks were carried out on the airport (12). The Dnipro airport is far from the largest airport in the world, so they almost destroyed it completely. Unfortunately, there are no photos of the destroyed airport in the network but here is what bombed areas look like (13).
The city of Kharkov, Feldman Zoo (14) is a favorite place for recreation of Kharkov's
Residents. The main feature of this park is that it is completely free, including free parking. It contains about three thousand animals and different species. There are many animals from the “Red Book” which means there are many rare animals in this zoo but, unfortunately, the park was destroyed on April 5. Even though enclosures and the entire infrastructure were destroyed, tigers and lions miraculously survived (15). The owner of the park reports that the park came under shelling. They wanted to kill the lions and tigers, but the volunteers collected the required amount and everything worked out. The cages were badly damaged so they could have escaped at any moment. The building where the bears are located is in a serious condition.
The city of Mariupol is where the attention of the whole world is focused (16) because of what is happening there. I found a video that will perfectly help you understand what is happening there. It is almost impossible to find a video with in English, but I found a one with English subtitles (17).
Now I want to slightly touch upon Russian propaganda. Millions of Russian citizens believe that at the moment a special military operation is taking place in Ukraine and not a war. All TV, radio, and news sites that tell the truth about the war is immediately removed. Only official channels and Russian news broadcast disinformation that people believe in, so millions of Russian citizens support what is happening in Ukraine.
Events and facts in Ukraine. At the end of February, the largest aircraft in the world, which belongs to Ukraine, an-225 Mriya, was destroyed (18). Ukraine has officially applied to join the European Union, which is very good news for any Ukrainian, since one of the goals of Ukraine is to join the European Union, and one of the goals of Ukraine is to join NATO, which is very difficult for Ukraine at the moment. The population of Ukraine at the moment is forty million people. It used to more than fifty million; every year the population of Ukraine is falling. One of the reasons is the 8-year war with Russia. At the moment, more than 5 million people have already left Ukraine, and this number is growing every day. The Russian military is actively looting, they are stealing things from Ukrainians and sending them to Russia through Belarus. On April 24, Ukrainians and Russians celebrated Easter, but the Russians refused a temporary peace truce with Ukraine and sent a gift to the city where I was born in Odessa; an Easter gift in the form of a rocket that shot at a residential building (19). A three-month-old girl died. At the beginning of the war, she was only a month old.
After the outbreak of the war, more than seven hundred fifty companies left Russia (20) to protest their actions. The government estimates that damage and destruction to the infrastructure, buildings, roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, and other property is worth at least a trillion dollars.
Since the war has not ended, I will express my opinion on how it can end: either by the temporary occupation of the territory of Ukraine by Russia, in whole or in part, or by the victory of Ukraine. I assume that the second version is already much more likely than the first, while the probability of the second will increase over time, during which Russia will not be able to win any significant victories. The end of my super cool presentation.
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