Beginning almost three years ago, the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict circulated in the media as a contemporary crisis. Reporters commented on Kyiv and Putin, the merits of Trump’s diplomatic dexterities, and the efficiency of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s martial decree in February 2022. What reporters refuse to cover, scarcely concealed in history books, is the predictability of the war.
Ukraine has had many names. Cimmerian, Scythian, and Sarmatian. Goth, Hun, and Avar. In the fourth century, Kyiv stood as the birth of modern-day Ukrainian roots. In the thirteenth century, they were subjugated by the Mongols, concluding Kyiv’s power. Then, they donned the hues of Lithuania, Poland, and Russia.
Additionally, the Cossacks governed a small territory known as the Hetmanate. But above all, Russia reigned supreme by the eighteenth century. After World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917, Ukraine became a part of the Soviet Union. They suffered a harrowing famine known as the Holodomor and were ravaged by Axis Armies during World War II. In 1991, the cerulean and marigold state declared independence. Unfortunately, their trials and tribulations did not end after they declared freedom. They were plagued by social issues, election disputes, and mass protests.
To put it pithily, to declare Ukraine’s brawl with Russia is recent is unsubstantiated. The vast military campaigns and the annexation of Crimea, are for reference. Ukraine has been a bloody battleground and has stood as a tipping point between democracy and disaster long before the first bullet was fired. It has even been hailed as the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II. Despite the importance, the long history, and the sheer brutality, there is a long line of misconceptions about what the conflict is. This article will attempt to clear the air.
The Ukrainian War is not a Russian Attempt to end Neo-Nazism.
Before subjugating the claim that the Russo-Ukrainian war is not a Russian effort to deter Nazism, we must admit the problem of Nazism in Ukraine to begin. Due to their proxy to Nazism and Hitler’s grotesque ideologies of anti-Semitism and genocide in the 1940s, Ukraine has had problems with anti-Jewish sentiment in its chronology. Ukrainian Nationalists and previous Ukrainian Parliament members have thought of the extermination of Jews, and by extension the Holocaust, as a necessary practice. Some military groups such as the Azov Battalion, which is founded on white supremacy, claim Ukraine is meant to ‘rid the country of Jews and other inferior races’. Without a doubt, the glorification of the Nazi party in Ukraine is abhorrent and requires reformation. The Waffen SS marches in Kyiv, and the swastika-related vandalization of buildings is downright terrifying. However, they recently made anti-Semitic actions illegal. In 2014 and 2019, the Ukrainian far right – where the majority of neo-Nazism sentiment originates – had dwindling involvement in Parliament. Vladimir Putin’s claim that he wants to “strive for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine” is simply false. It’s a direct deflection away from the blood-soaking Russia’s hands. This is also not new rhetoric from the Kremlin, hailing himself as the ‘the tamer of neo-Nazism.’ Putin has attempted to dismiss the ideology of people who feel a speck of nationalism towards Ukraine as Nazis. In other words, anyone who wishes for Ukraine to be a national state will be hailed and treated as a neo-Nazi. Putin is not using morals as a reason but instead a thinly veiled motive and ill-justification of wrongdoing, and Orwellian in proposed essence. He regards Ukrainians as: “Traitors against Russia; the West’s 5th column; dirty insects to be destroyed” Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not to be rid of Nazism but to bully Ukrainians into tyranny.
Ukraine was never a sovereign state.
Putin has also attempted to argue that Ukraine has never been a sovereign state, and that the people of Ukraine are vying for the Russian political regime. He does this by facilitating historical revisionism and disinformation through sham referendums (251 cases of misinformation spread through the Russian Federation to justify Putin’s actions), namely, pro-Kremlin news outlets claim that the Crimean people voted to become a territory of Russia. However, the voters have proven to be coerced. Armed soldiers were posted outside the doors, contradicting Ukraine’s constitution and the U.N.’s resolutions on the annexation. Putin’s disinformation campaigns have spread far and wide to attempt to prove Ukraine does not have the right to be a state. Yet, there has been no substantial evidence backing his claims. Therefore, this myth is defrauding.
Russia is fighting against Western imperialism.
Finally, Russia has attempted to bring forth the discussion that they’re fighting against Western imperialism and neo-colonization. However, their illegal imperialistic actions in Europe, Caucasus, and Asia prove their argument is faulty and hypocritical. Russia has not only violated international law and the U.N. Charter but went directly against U.N. Decrees to withdraw from Ukraine in 2022. By trying to pin blame on the West, they’ve been caught red-handed with their imperial agenda and further exposed in recent years.
What It Is
The Russo-Ukrainian War is a longstanding clash that is profoundly ingrained in both Russia and Ukraine’s cataclysmic history. It’s a combination of considerable stressors and facets. Attempting to trace back the exact, undeniable conflictual origin is uncorroborated. Even in 1918, Vladimir Lenin of the Bolshevik party warned the Red Army: “Losing Ukraine is tantamount to madness.” There is energy dependency, bilateral relations, oligarchies, clandestine agreements on the Black Sea, and more. Eastern European dependency and economic pitfalls can be traced back to the USSR, warring politics in both countries. However, to paint Russia as either the victim or savior is tasteless. To consider it can be solved with the potency of U.S. forces and a considerable dose of causalities is foolish. The certitude is that Ukraine, though it has severe political issues and instability, has been unjustly invaded by a dictator. It has dealt with the fallout of numerous historical events and requires planning and resources to be set on the path of democracy and anti-corruption. The Russo-Ukrainian War is not new or flashy, as many believe. And it should not be treated as such. It’s an old, shouting man on strong legs and a rifle in his pocket, ready to explode the world into technicolor for the last word.
Works Cited
“Database – EUvsDisinfo.” EUvsDisinfo, 29 July 2024, euvsdisinfo.eu/disinformation-cases/?disinfo_keywords%5B%5D=keyword_77147&date=. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.
EUvsDisinfo. “Why Does Putin Portray Himself as the Tamer of Neo-Nazism?” EUvsDisinfo, 19 Mar. 2022, euvsdisinfo.eu/why-does-putin-portray-himself-as-the-tamer-of-neo-nazism/.
“Is Ukraine Falling Victim to Russian Economic “Colonisation”?” Www.robert-Schuman.eu, www.robert-schuman.eu/en/european-issues/217-is-ukraine-falling-victim-to-russian-economic-colonisation.
Masters, Jonathan. “Ukraine: Conflict at the Crossroads of Europe and Russia.” Council on Foreign Relations, 14 Feb. 2023, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-crossroads-europe-and-russia.
Ripp, Allan. “Ukraine’s Nazi Problem Is Real, Even If Putin’s “Denazification” Claim Isn’t.” NBC News, 5 Mar. 2022, www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ukraine-has-nazi-problem-vladimir-putin-s-denazification-claim-war-ncna1290946.
“Twelve Myths about Russia’s War in Ukraine Exposed.” Cyprus.representation.ec.europa.eu, 8 Mar. 2023, cyprus.representation.ec.europa.eu/news/twelve-myths-about-russias-war-ukraine-exposed-2023-03-08_en.