The War in Ukraine

The current Russian invasion of Ukraine is part of the Russo-Ukrainian War that has been ongoing since 2014.

The Euromaidan Protests

The Euromaidan protests arose because the then Ukrainian government under Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union. Yanukovych had postponed the signing because he saw it as a threat to trade with Russia. On December 1, 2013, hundreds of thousands protested after peaceful student protests were violently broken up the day before [UQ1]. On February 21, 2014, Yanukovych signed an agreement that, among other things, brought forward the presidential and parliamentary elections [UQ2]. He thus signed his removal from office and fled to Russia that same night [UQ3].

The Russo-Ukrainian War

During the final phase of the protests and the resulting revolution, the Speaker of the Parliament of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea traveled to Moscow on February 19, 2014. There, Vladimir Andreyevich Konstantinov wanted to discuss a possible secession of Crimea from Ukraine and simultaneous integration into Russia. The Russian news agency Interfax reported on the political talks. According to this report, the president stated that a foreign army was operating in Kyiv and that his government needed help [UQ4].
On February 23, 2014, the decision to annex Crimea was made in Moscow, and on March 27, 2014, an armed force took control of the Crimean regional parliament. The Crimean parliament decided in a short-notice session to hold a referendum on joining Russia. The referendum was held on March 16, 2014, and was largely not recognized by Western politicians [UQ5].
There was therefore no choice for Crimea's incorporation into Ukraine and therefore no free and democratic election [UQ6]. On March 18, 2014, Crimea was annexed by Russia, which, from a Western perspective, was illegal [UQ7].

The Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022)

The difficult situation between Russia and Ukraine escalated further in early 2022. On February 24, 2022, President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in the "People's Republics" recognized by Russia. The goal of this operation, he stated, is to protect the people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide for eight years (2014-2022). Ukraine should be demilitarized and denazified [UQ8].
Since this is a very current war, the situation for both parties (Ukraine and Russia) is changing rapidly. For this reason, further description of the war will be omitted for the time being.