February 24, 2022; the day of the invasion, the long anticipated invasion. The world sat back and watched as the horrors we had fearfully imagined for weeks unraveled before our eyes on our flat-screens.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Vladimiroich Putin, has seen a lot in his lifetime. He acted as a KGB operative for 16 years, but not a lot is known about the man’s service and life before working for the government. In 1996 he joined the administration of Boris Yeltsin. He was then appointed Prime Minister of Russia under Yeltsin, and after Yeltsin’s resignation, Putin became the acting President of Russia. Putin was officially elected President of Russia just 4 months after taking office as prime minister. Years later in 2021, Putin signed into law a bill that would allow him to rerun as president for two more consecutive terms. This enables him to potentially hold power until 2036.
President Volodymer Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy of Ukraine was born into a Russian speaking family living in the heart of the country in 1978. Zelenskyy went to college for a law degree at Kyiv National Economic University but then began a career in comedy and founded the production company Kvartal 95. The company produced a show called “Servant of the People”, which starred the soon-to-be president, who quite ironically was cast to play the President of Ukraine in the show. A political party, sharing the same name as the show, was created by some of the employees of Kvartal 95 and helped get Zelenskyy elected as President of Ukraine in 2019.
The first shots rang out while much of the other side of the globe rested their weary eyes. They woke in the morning and heard of the horrors that started the previous night. It is reported that 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed protecting their country. It has also been reported that 4,000 Russian soldiers have died trying to invade Ukraine.
Putin claims his goal for the invasion is to protect people subject to bullying and genocide at the hands of the Ukrainian people. His mission also includes the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine. But there is no genocide in Ukraine and the Jewish President Zelenskyy has said, “How could I be a Nazi”.
Russian forces are currently surrounding the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Shelling into towns and cities has been nearly constant. As of one week ago, 549 civilians have died during the fighting, 26 of which were children. A reported 957 civilians have been injured during the fighting. The United States has been sending over military supplies to aid the Ukrainians.
What the world must take away from this horrible atrocity is the knowledge of the sheer strength and patriotism of the Ukrainian people. We shouldn't have to engage in war to learn from each other. We should be able to communicate to solve our problems. We shouldn’t be killing thousands of people before finally agreeing to talk.