In this photo taken from video and released in January 2023, Russian tanks roll to their position at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Photo: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP Photo
Why Did Russia Invade Ukraine?
How to understand the roots of the war
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made clear that he considers Ukraine’s place to be under Russia’s thumb. That was its position from the days of the Russian Empire under Catherine the Great in the 18th century through the nations’ shared history in the Soviet Union. After the Soviet collapse, successive Ukrainian governments forged closer ties with the European Union and NATO, then sidled back toward Russia, and edged away again. With war, Putin’s intention has been to settle the direction of Ukraine’s future by force.
They share a long common past, dating back more than a millennium to the establishment of the first Slavic state, Kyivan Rus, in parts of what are today Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Most of the territory of contemporary Ukraine became part of the Russian empire in the late 1700s after periods of rule under the Mongols or Tatars, the Poles and Lithuanians. In 1918, a year after Russia’s communist revolution, Ukraine declared independence, but in 1921, the Red Army conquered most of it and Ukraine became a republic within the Soviet Union.