If you turn on the news, you are likely to hear about the current internal war taking place in Ukraine between the Ukrainian government and the Pro-Russian forces that have annexed the Crimean peninsula — but the purpose of this article is to give a brief and concise explanation of the things taking place

The Ukrainian Crisis: Explained

The small country of Ukraine is about the size of Texas with a population of about 45,000,000 (45mil). Ukraine broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991 and became its own independent Nation-State shortly after.

Earlier this year, there was a massive protest in Ukraine. Because Ukraine is located directly between Europe and Russia — the country has always been divided between the two nations. While some Ukrainians see themselves as more European, many of the others see themselves as more Russian.

Because Ukraine has been pulled between the two nations for such a long time — this has caused for a civil unrest between the Ukrainian Citizens. It was this Ukrainian unrest that resulted in the Crimean crisis.

What caused the Crimean Crisis?

Although the country is spit between the two worlds (Russia & Western Influence) — the former president of the Ukraine (Viktor Yanukovych) rejected an economic deal with the European Union but accepted a $15b ‘bailout’ from Russia.

This caused many Ukrainians who leaned more towards Western influence to feel that the Ukrainian president ‘sold’ them out to Russia. It was this action that caused the start of the extremely violent protests which resulted in the death of many people in the bloody civil war.

Since the beginning of the Crimean crisis in February 2014, unmarked armed forces began to take over the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. When the Ukrainian military attempted to combat the intruders, It was then that Russian entered to prevent the military from harming the Russian citizens living in Crimea.

This resulted in Russia annexing (invading) the Crimean peninsula  — this was condemned not only by the Ukrainian government but also by many in the United States — including the  US President.