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April 2022 – The Russian invasion of Ukraine
In 2021 Russia began moving troops and military equipment near to its border with the Ukraine without any official explanation and by December that year, one hundred thousand Russian troops were in place near the border.
In 1991 the Ukraine achieved independence as the Soviet Union collapsed, and it has gradually veered towards the West – both the EU and NATO, Putin (Russia’s leader) has sought to reverse that, seeing the fall of the Soviet Union as the ‘disintegration of historical Russia’, and wants to ensure that the Ukraine does not join NATO.
NATO was formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty, and it is a security alliance of 30 countries from North American and Europe. NATO’s fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies’ freedom and security by political and military means.
On 24th February 2022 Russia invaded the Ukraine in major cities including; Berdyansk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy and Kyiv and by 4th April the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights verified that 1,480 Ukraine civilians had died as a result of the invasion, although this number has been disputed due to it being difficult to access all locations.
The invasion has resulted in a humanitarian crisis, and thousands of Ukrainians have fled the country to remain safe. Britain have helped the Ukraine by proving a range of economic, humanitarian and defensive military assistance to Ukraine during this time and have created the Homes for Ukraine scheme for individuals who wish to flee the Ukraine and move to the UK.
There does not seem to be any signs of the invasion stopping any time soon and we are aware that our learners, employers and staff may be impacted emotionally by this topic. If you are and would like to talk about anything that is troubling you, please talk to your tutor or the Safeguarding team.
