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The Contributing factors to the Ukraine War

Posted on 01 March 2022; 10:00 PM IST. Last Updated 01 March 2022; 10:00 PM IST.

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Summary: This article explains the contributing factors to the current ongoing Ukranian crisis. The author expresses the opinion that instead of trying to fetch fighter aircraft and anti-tank missiles, US and EU must get legal experts and scholars on board, to solve the Ukranian crisis.

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Ukraine has a long chequered history in Europe, and unlike other parts of Europe, which were governed by large Empires, Ukraine remained relatively isolated, and was filled with peasants and hunter gatherers, collectively known as Cossacks. The major ethnicity of Ukranians is Slavic, but Ukraine was also filled with other ethnic groups in the neighborhood such as Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, and Romanians.

Geographically, Ukraine is sand-witched between Poland and Russia. The most overlooked and misunderstood factor about Ukraine is that the original Ukraine (even in 16^th century), was much smaller than current Ukraine (by a factor of 2 times or more).

The Ukranians (Cossacks) were aligned with Russia, for a large part of their history, out of fear and respect for the vast Russian Empire, which is next door to it, on the eastern border. Poland, Sweden and Germany were other large European empires, which all tried to extend their dominance in Europe. The Cossacks of Ukraine vacillated in their alliance to the larger Empires, and sometimes they were torn apart by the bigger empires.

In short, Ukraine never had a statehood of its own.

At the end of the Russo–Polish War, the Treaty of Andrusovo (in 1667) divided Ukraine into Left (East) and Right (West) segments, along the river Dnieper, which flows from North to South of Ukraine. The Left/Right terminology or view is from the perspective of Poland. As part of the Andrusovo treaty, Russia paid 146,000 rubles for Kiev, which is the current capital of Ukraine.

Thus, Eastern Ukraine became a constitutive part of Russia, after Russia bought it from Poland. The fate of Ukraine changed several times thereafter, once when Poland conquered Russia in 1920, and later, when Germany and Russia conquered Poland in 1939 (World War II).

Russia got Ukraine back from Poland during World War II. In the early 19^th century Russia integrated Ukraine, into their culture, and this time the Cossacks got Russified. Ukranians are generally regarded as good fighters, and the wars of early 19^th century, could have contributed for their raise to prominence, in Russia.

When the USSR collapsed, Ukraine gained independence in 1991, but as said above, the Ukraine of USSR is geographically very different and much larger than the Ukraine known in the past era.

In essence, while a small piece came into Russia, when Ukraine joined Russia, a bigger chunk left Russia, when Ukraine left Russia.

The contributing factors to the current ongoing Russia-Ukraine war can be summarized as follows:

1. Ukraine is a constitutive part of Russia, and Russia has paid money to Poland, to acquire the Eastern Ukraine, including Kiev (as per Andrusovo treaty).
    
2. Legally, Ukraine cannot secede from Russia, by itself.
    
3. Ukraine did not share the debt burden of Russia, when it became independent in 1991. Ukraine could have lost an opportunity to become truly independent.
    
4. Ukraine did not join the Russian union by itself, it was acquired in part or full by paying cash, or by war.  So, Ukraine cannot ask Russia to share its resources like Gold, etc for sharing debt.
    
5. Administrative autonomy given to a constituent State by a Union, does not amount to relinquishment of the title of the State, by the Union.
    
6. Russia could still claim title to Ukraine, just as US claims title to Texas, or Alaska.
    
7. How can US propose secession in Russia, while secession is illegal, in US?
    
8. The American support for Ukraine is ridiculous, and could have actually emboldened Ukraine (especially the Ukraine President), and could have vastly contributed to the current ongoing crisis.
    
9. President Putin asked the right questions, but neither US nor EU listened to the questions, and never tried to answer the questions.
   Where are the answers?
    
10. It is very unfortunate US and EU are trying to fetch fighter aircraft and anti-tank missiles, instead of getting legal experts and scholars on board, who could guide them in solving the Ukraine crisis.